


One New Message

by mikuridaigo



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Grindr AU, Hook-Up, Hurt/Comfort, Mistaken Identity, Multi, Romance, Slow Build, Still a space story tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-07-23 20:51:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 24,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7479534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikuridaigo/pseuds/mikuridaigo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance is horny, Keith is a tease, Allura believes sex solves everything, Shiro just wants to talk, and Pidge and Hunk need a break. </p><p>Or</p><p>Lance and Keith hook-up via grindr without realizing it. It goes just as well as everyone expects</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lance

**Author's Note:**

> Alrighty guys here's basically my next long Klance fic. I apologize for those reading Miscommunication that it took this long to get another Klance fic out. This will be a slow build, so rating will go up later. 
> 
> Warning for pop-culture references and Lance's obliviousness. I also have only a vague idea how grindr works so... whatever
> 
> I would love to thank [ Lolakins](http://lolakins.tumblr.com) for the amazing artwork accompanied with this! She worked a lot so go follow her~
> 
> Un-beta'd. I apologize if I miss any grammatical or spelling mistakes

Sprawled out on the couch, phone just inches from his face, Lance stared at the bright screen and groaned. Pidge, sitting on the dining table with their laptop, ignored him. Lance’s thumb swiped the screen, letting out another groan. Pidge turned up the volume, blasting electronic music. Lance let his phone fall on his chest and slid down to the floor. He groaned audibly loud again. Pidge’s eye twitched, trying to focus on the code.

Lance glanced over at Pidge, annoyed that his friend was still working. “Uuugh!”

Pidge removed their glasses, about to regret this decision. “What, Lance?”

“Piiiidge. I’m bored!”

“I can tell.”

“Come on you’ve been working on that all day!” Lance said sitting up. “It’s Saturday, we should be on Cancri or Venus, hell even Santa Monica partying it up at the beach!”

Pidge dramatically turned their head, face completely unamused. “And what makes you think I’m the party friend?”

Lance stared at Pidge, and then fell back over. “Uuugh.”

“Hunk invited you on the double date. You know he doesn’t mind the company.”

Lance just made a face, imagining how his night would be going if he were to fifth wheel them. Hunk and Shay were out with Shiro and Allura. With Hunk and Shiro being friends since their freshman year, and Allura and Shay in diplomatic trades well before earth began civilizations, it only made sense that they would all go on double dates now. Both parties too, were kind enough to invite their friends on these dates, and the one time Lance did take upon the offer ended with him going home early without either party noticing.

“You think I want to fifth wheel? It’s bad enough third wheeling him and Shay!” Pidge returned to their computer and turned up the music. “Pleeease can we do something?”

“Why don’t you call Keith?” Without having to look at Pidge, Lance could clearly tell they were smirking. He balled up a lost sock and threw it in their direction. He missed by an inch.

“How dare you mention that name under this roof?”

Pidge shrugged. “He’s probably not joining the double date either. You two might as well do something since you’re clearly bored—ow! Why don’t you actually put your socks in the hamper?”

He was proud at his aim, and if Pidge kept annoying him with that _person_ he would have a 100% hit rate.

Pidge suddenly perked up, eyes bright. “I almost forgot!”

“Forgot that we need bathing suits for the beach?” Lance asked excitedly, ready to run out the door.

“I was going to video call my brother.”

“Ugh.” He fell back on the couch.

“Lance you have a plethora of numbers on your phone, bother someone else.” Pidge said as they took their laptop upstairs.

Groaning, Lance picked up his phone and scrolled through his contacts. Each person he looked at were either just an acquaintance from class, someone he was uncomfortable taking out, or already had their own plans. He texted the few remaining options, also to no avail. Another loud groan as Lance’s arms fell over his eyes. Literally no one to hang out with.

He wouldn’t be complaining if he had a partner to join on the double date with Hunk and Shay. Pidge refuse to be his stand in date after their first attempt of a double date, ending with Lance hitting on the waitress but Pidge getting her number, because apparently they were ‘not acting like a pig’. Pidge wouldn’t let him live that down for a week.  

So yeah, if he was in a relationship or at least had someone he could hook up with at the end of the date, he wouldn’t be as bored. But since he was unattached tonight, he thought looking for a quickie could work. He opened up tinder, one of many dating and hookup apps Lance used or looked at on a daily basis.  

But like before, he wasn’t finding anyone interesting. Either their profile pic wasn’t appealing, or their description was everything Lance did NOT want at the moment. His eyes were half-lidded as he mindlessly scrolled through the list of available people (which was a lot, since he expanded his search all throughout the milky way) until he noticed a notification on the top of the page.

He received a ‘favorite’ on his grindr profile picture. He downloaded that app a while ago, but after three unsuccessful dates (that he initiated) he forgot all about it. Now that someone favorited his profile pic, he had to see who they were. He was totally going to rub it into Pidge that yes, a picture of his just sculpted abs was enough to get attention! Even if it took months later.    

He clicked on the profile but frowned at the location, which was at the university. He usually hesitated with anyone that close for a hookup, knowing if he had to see them regularity how awkward it could become. But the guy in the picture was someone he didn’t recognized. His black hair was tied in a ponytail and wore sunglasses accompanied by a black tank top. He was sitting by the beach, behind a red sunset that made him glow. His smile, too, was very charming and gentle, as if that’s how naturally looked.

Username: Princezuko3  
1.1 Miles Away  
21  
5’7”  
Single  
Looking for: casual hookups/fwb | coffee dates  
Likes: cats, piloting, potatoes, asteroid diving, sparring, sex. Power Bottom  

As Lance stared at the profile, reading each line and staring closely at the covered face, his smile returned. “Oh my god, he’s perfect! Pidge! I found a really hot guy!” Pidge didn’t reply.

Sure, his profile was nowhere near close to a paragraph, but their likes alone were enough to hopefully start some conversation. He could go on for ages about his precious childhood cat, Blue, and the type of jet he’s allowed to fly under the university. Power bottom was a definite yes, since Lance himself was a top, and he liked it when his partner took control of that. Potatoes was a little random, but who doesn’t love French fries?

“Alrighty Prince Zuko, you liked my abs so let’s chat.” He swiped to contact him, leaving a messaged that simply said ‘ _hey’_.

He stared at his phone.

One minute later he sent another message saying ‘ _sup’_ because fuck the double text rule.

Thirty seconds later a third text went out ‘ _How u doin_?’

Ten minutes later, and twelve more messages, the guy wasn’t responding despite that he was online. Well, now he was disappointed and he still didn’t have anything to do that night.

Before he threw his phone between the couches he received a text message from Vince, saying that he was online playing Battlefield. Still no reply from Princezuko3. “Fuck it.”

Lance turned on his console and fished out the headphones from a box of consoles himself, Hunk, and Pidge usually throw into.

 

* * *

 

He stayed up until 3AM, yelling into the mic and laughing at Vince’s obscure comments before crashing on the couch, too lazy to drag himself upstairs. He woke up to the front door shutting and heavy footsteps creaking against the hardwood floor. Lighter footsteps trotted down the staircase. “Welcome back Hunk! Thanks for picking up lunch.”

Lance finally opened his eyes. After a few blinks he turned his head to the clock. It was already twelve-thirty. His back was straining from the couch and the headset was digging into his ear. He grabbed the back of the couch and pulled himself up, watching Hunk and Pidge set up the takeout food. “Hey guys,” he yawned out. “Where’s Shay?”

“Dropped her off this morning. You should have came with us though, the movie was great!”

“Yeah, no, not without a date anyway.” Lance returned to the couch and reached his hands into the cushions, fishing out for his phone. He forgot to charge it the night before. As he unlocked the screen to see the battery life, he saw one new notification from grindr. He opened it up and practically jumped out of the cushions.

“Hah! He replied! Cute guy replied!”

Pidge and Hunk exchanged looks. Pidge shrugged. “

Fine I’ll ask,” Hunk said. “What guy?”

Lanced jumped over the couch and shoved his phone in Hunk’s face. “This guy! He liked my profile pic last night and now he replied back!”

Hunk snatched his phone to take a better look at the guy. “ _Do you always annoy guys like this_? Lance I don’t think that’s a positive reply. And wow your text messages get really weird.”

“Keep scrolling.” He nudged.

“ _But we do have the same interests. What’s up?”_

Pidge scoffed. “Wow, either this guy has low standards or you finally found your soulmate.”

“Not soulmate, fuck buddy.” Pidge and Hunk groaned. “Hey they’re just as hard to come by as soulmates! Remember how messy my thing with Jeff was?”

“You probably should have told him you two were only hooking up before he invited you to meet his mom.” Pidge deadpanned.

Lance ignored him. “Point is I scored a cute guy.”

“I don’t think you scored anything until you two actually met.” Pidge mumbled.

Hunk still had Lance’s phone in his hands. “Huh.”

“What?”

“Doesn’t he look really familiar?”

Pidge stood on their toes to look at the screen. “A bit hard to tell, the sunglasses are big.”

“Yeah but… it feels like I know him.”

“He goes to the university,” Lance explained. “Maybe you had a class with him?”

Shrugging, Hunk returned his phone. “I’ll come to me eventually. Anyway let’s eat! We have study group in two hours.

Lance whined again as he slumped in his seat. To have an intense study session on a Sunday made it feel like they had classes six days a week. They wouldn’t need it if they weren’t required to take ‘Contemporary theories on piloting’ which was also taught by the hardest professor in the university. Everyone failed the first quiz, so Pidge decided to create a study group every Sunday since the tests were on Mondays.

What was even worse was that their other study group member whom he now had to see on the weekend was his arch nemesis and rival, Keith Gyeong.

Yes, Keith did fail the first test too (although he was one point higher than Lance). Keith and Pidge knew each other in a previous class, and since Shiro and Hunk were friends too, Shiro asked if Keith could join. Pidge figured extra heads in the group would help their chances at passing the class. Lance hated that Pidge was right on that, therefore was the only reason he tolerated Keith on his weekends.

 

* * *

 

Tolerated, though, was still a light way to put it.

“Gyeong.”

“Sanchez.”

Lance was not quiet about his rivalry with Keith. Ever since Piloting 1, where Keith’s score was always slightly higher than Lance, he knew he had to beat this guy somehow. He challenged Keith two weeks in that he would be number one in their department. Keith’s reply? A shrug and a mumbled “whatever" as he stormed out of the classroom. That just screamed arrogance to Lance, and he should know since he was a self-proclaimed arrogant guy. Not only that, but Keith's cold attitude reminded him of a feral cat. He avoided Lance, and he avoided everyone in the class. If forced to socialize, looked heavily annoyed and bored the entire time. Despite that attitude, though, someone always tried to hit on him, and that poor sap was immediately turned down. He was bored that he was the best, and worst of all, bored that Lance was trying to surpass him.

Ever since then he knew he was going to beat Keith, and he would be the best pilot in the program!

They sat across from the table, Lance with his arms crossed and Keith with his resting bitch face. Eyes were dead, eyebrows furrowed, and lips as straight as a ruler.

Shiro opened his textbook and slid it between them. “Alright, chapter 4! Theories on the launch- how it can go wrong.”

Lance glanced at the book’s opening paragraph. “I’ve seen the Challenger disaster documentary, isn’t that enough?”

Keith flipped through the chapter. “This is 50 pages long! How much information can that be on simple engineering malfunctions?”

“Well we better get started, and please, no competitions for this session!” Pidge pleaded. “Everything that you two yelled last time was not on the test.”

In the previous chapter, Lance was shot down by Keith whenever he tried to use a theory to explain an example. It turned into some kind of contest on who knew the chapter the most, even if that meant yelling obscured details that were implanted into their friend’s brains.

Keith and Lance just stared at each other, then Keith glued his eyes to his notebook while Lance pulled out his own text book. Shiro sighed and began reading out loud his highlights.

 

* * *

 

That night Lance read over his conversation with Princezuko3. He still couldn’t believe he found was talking to this really cute guy. And talking was an understatement. This guy was a challenge, which he didn’t mind.

They texted a little before his study session. Lance, at first, took the direct approach into meeting with him, but the guy was beating around the bush.  

 

> **Swaggerblue69**  
>  What got u interested? Was it my abs ;)
> 
> **Princezuko3**  
>  ngl if those are real I’ll be impressed
> 
> **Swaggerblue69**  
>  I can show u ;)
> 
> **Princezuko3**  
>  Eh, I rather see your cat.

His profile picture unintentionally included his cat, who was just sitting on his bed. He took that picture while he was home and was honestly impressed with himself how muscular he’s gotten. He remembered in Princezuko3’s likes, cats were the first thing to appear.

 

> **Swaggerblue69**  
>  lol once I’m home again I can send u more pics of him
> 
> **Princezuko3**  
>  cool. Can I have your cat instead?

Lance actually laughed at that. Blue was the sweetest thing in the world and greeted Lance whenever he went home. He only reason why he didn’t bring her to college was she was also very attached to his mom. She already had a hard time with the idea of Lance leaving the house, what more if he took the cat?

 

> **Swaggerblue69:**  
>  Depends. What do you have to offer him?
> 
> **Princezuko3:**  
>  milk and fish?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69:**  
>  lol have u ever owned a cat? Cow milk isn’t good for them.

As he typed out the last part of his message his door swung open. Lance fumbled with his phone, holding it close to his chest as Hunk smirked at him. “I got it, I know who you’re texting.”

“Yeah? This ought to be good.”

“Keith!” Hunk held his hands up like he revealed a big surprise.

Lance just sat on his bed, blinking, blinking again, and then bursting out into laughter. “Hahahahaha what?!”

“Dude is it not obvious? Did you not see Keith today and think he looks like the guy in your picture?”

“Uh, this is _not_ Keith.” Lance said, pulling up Princezuko3’s picture. “See? No mullet, muscular arms and oh look, this guy smiles. Keith doesn’t smile. His face is permanently stuck like this.” Lance imitated his face, keeping his eyebrows furrowed and mouth straight.

“Uh-huh.” Hunk said, his eyebrows raised, “Well if his hair is up it’s harder to tell he has a mullet, Keith is always wearing a jacket so you don’t know what under there, and Keith has smiled.”

Lance looked at the picture once again, and compared it to the mental image of Keith. This guy, the cute man in front of a fiery ocean sunset and may as well be an actual prince, versus stone face always angry Keith, who scowls at literally everything and probably kicks puppies for fun.

“Sorry Hunk I think your guy-dar is off. I am not talking to _Keith_.”

Hunk shrugged. “Whatever man, I swear I’m right on this though.”

Once he left Lance closed and locked his door. His phone blinked one new message.  

 

> **Princezuko3**  
>  No… but they’re cute.

Right! They were still talking about cats. And he was more of a cat appreciator than a cat owner? That was actually a little sad, cats were so great! But now he missed Blue. He’ll have to ask his mom to send more pictures of him in the morning.

 

> **Swaggerblue69**  
>  If I send more pics of him will that keep u interested? ;)
> 
> **Princezuko3**  
>  ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

This was probably the most roundabout and unnecessary way to get into someone’s pants. Lance shrugged though, figuring hey, there wasn’t a true sense of urgency for sex. Plus, the guy was interesting. 

 

* * *

 

As they turned in their test Lance’s head fell on the table. Even with Shiro and Pidge’s notes he was sure he missed half the test. Most of the class seemed to be in agreement, including Shiro and Pidge, seeing as how worried they looked. Hunk was just as bad, but he may be getting some points since he understood the mechanical failures the most. But how was anyone supposed to pay attention to the conspiracy theories of Russian and American spies?! They were conspiracies for a reason!

Lance stared ahead of him and saw the back of Keith. He was hunched over with his face towards Shiro. While Shiro at least had the decency to look upset over the test Keith was bored as usual. He hated having to sit behind the competition, and, no, he refused to move since he sat there first and Keith just _had_ to sit in front of him.

Their professor announced a ten-minute break before the lecture. Some of the students got up for a drink or use the bathroom while everyone else pulled out their phones.

Lance was among them and noticed that Princezuko3 was online.

 

> **Swaggerblue69**  
>  we’re both lookin 4 fwb. Don’t u wanna get laid now???
> 
> **Princezuko3**  
>  so are all the guys who contacted me. Gotta give me more.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69**  
>  those guys look as hot as me?
> 
> **Princezuko3**  
>  nope. But you’re still not giving me enough
> 
> **Swaggerblue69**  
>  I sent u a pic of my cats this morning
> 
> **Princezuko3**  
>  and he was cute. Still want your cat more tho ;)

Oh the winky face, this guy was mocking him. Fine, he can convince the pretty prince that he’s worth it.

As he typed out his next reply he felt Hunk scoot closer to him and glance at his phone. “Who you texting?”

Lance pulled his phone to his chest. “Don’t worry about it.”

Hunk jabbed his thumb in Keith’s direction. Peeking over his shoulder, he could see Keith on his phone. Lance sat back down and pouted. That didn’t mean anything, because Shiro and Pidge, and half the class were on their phones! Plus, Keith was probably just reading on his phone, not everyone was texting anyway.

 

> **Swaggerblue69**  
>  So you into cat things? Like ears and stuff?
> 
> **Princezuko3:**  
>  … I’m gonna stop texting now.

Lance chuckled to himself, but then realized he may have gone a little too far with making him uncomfortable. He considered sending another text, typed out something stupid, then put his phone away.

 

* * *

 

A few days later Lance completely forgot about texting Princezuko3 until his phone was blinking again. The original message was sent around 6:30 AM, a time that Lance was rarely up for unless he was traveling. It was a picture of a pale, but visibly scratched hand. In the background, a cat seemed to be scurrying away.

 

> **Princezuko3:**  
>  Tried to pet the uni’s cat

It was still too early for him to get up, but Lance chuckled at the message anyway and replied. The university had a few cats running around. He had no idea if they had a home but if they were near the apartment complexes Lance left out a can of cat food for them. As far as Lance knew, most people around campus had good experiences with the cats, so it was only hilarious that Princezuko would get scratched.  

But then after that he didn’t get a reply, and he wasn’t sure what else to say. Lance knew that texting a stranger would be difficult, especially if there was nothing else in common. He had no idea who to really ask too, since the cat thing was just because Blue was in one of his pictures. He didn’t delete his number, though, and went through the rest of the week flirting with people, angrily eyeing Keith during a piloting simulation, and playing video games with Pidge and Hunk.

 

+.+.+.+

 

When Friday arrived Lance was on his way home. He promised his family to visit at least once a month, and since he wasn’t busy with midterms of other projects he had enough time to see them, and Blue. On Saturday he spent the day at the farmer’s market with his sister, attempting to fix the patio with his dad (they got a good quarter done), and then cooking with his mom. Hunk and Lance usually took over the kitchen, but a new recipe would help spice up their usual meals of rice with some sort of meat.

He collapsed on his bed, exhausted but relaxed after a long shower. Blue jumped onto his bed and snuggled close with him. It was really hard not to sneak her out of the house and bring her to his apartment, but he was sure he’d get an earful from his mom if he did that.

With his phone above his face, Lance was replying to a couple of texts, Hunk about the dishware, telling Pidge he did not use their computer to pirate movies, and assuring Allura that he will behave during her coronation ceremony. Blue mewled as she snuggled into his bare shoulder.

He was shirtless and snuggling with his cat. Not a bad time for a picture for his profile, and maybe even one more attempt to talk with Princezuko, if it wasn’t too late already. One more picture couldn’t hurt, right?

Moving Blue to his chest, Lance took the picture, making sure his face wasn’t showing. He was impressed with himself, the lighting really highlighted his abs and the lower half showed his boxers and hips. Definitely a new profile pic.

Although he wasn’t online, he sent the picture anyway.

An hour later, just before he was going to sleep, he got a reply.

 

> **Princezuko3**  
>  Aw cute cat! Also nice bedsheets.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69:**  
>  She’s the sweetest thing. Thx! Ur a SW fan?
> 
> **Princezuko3:**  
>  Hell yeah! Only own the movies though. Bed looks big enough for two.

Lance took a double take, making sure that was said correctly. Princezuko made a sex joke, right? Not even a joke, a proposition! Who knew his high school sheets could possibly get him laid? Except high school Lance did think that.

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Sorry, a little too forward, huh?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  lol not at all. I was gonna ask if you want me 2 bring it when we meet
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Yeah I was too forward, I got your hopes up ;)
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Rlly? But I have a cat and SW!
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  I like cats and SW in general  
>  Wait, I do have some other SW things!

The next message was an attached picture. Once it loaded Lance had to take a double take, rubbing his eyes to make sure what was on the screen was true.

Princezuko was on his bed, shirtless and pants-less except for his tight boxer-briefs with the rebel symbol pattern. The picture was only of his lower half, though, but damn he strong thighs! And had a six pack too! He knew he worked out but now seeing his body, Lance could only image the type of sex they’d be having.

He stopped drooling in time to reply back.

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Oh hello there! So does this mean ur boxers will match my sheets?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  It means I should steal your sheets to replace my boring white ones.

So he was still playing that game. Whatever, Princezuko said to convince him, so he will continue to try so! But in the meantime he found a new SW fan. He exhausted all his knowledge on Pidge and Hunk so a new person was always refreshing. Talking about that will distract him from wanting to leave hickies on those thighs.

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Alright test time. RotS, or RotJ?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Is this a trick question? Jedi of course!

Lance suddenly sat up, causing Blue to roll of his chest. She sneered at him and moved to the end of the bed. Was that, really his answer?

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Wait rlly? U lik the stupid teddy bears?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Wait, you actually /like/ RotS?!
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  … are you serious? How do you NOT like it?
> 
> **Princezuko3:**  
>  Oh you’re typing fully. This is serious. And I have many reasons against the prequels
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  … I’m about to break up with you
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  I was thinking the same thing.

Lance tapped his chin. He was sure that Princezuko was just teasing him too, but this was a conversation he had to fight with. He’s already argued with Pidge enough on this.

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  OK but HOW COULD U NOT??
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Are you ready for this conversation Padawan???
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  u did not. I am a Jedi! Bring it on!

Lance patiently waited for his reply, drumming his fingers on his chest while staring at his profile. Two minutes later a long paragraph was sent, opening that not only the prequels were cash grabs but completely disregarded the original lore. Lance cracked his knuckles, because this was an easy one to debunk, and he typed back.

He could have sworn they were only texting for a few hours, because of how fast he was replying back. But when Lance had to squint his eyes from the bright light coming through his blinds, and he heard his someone in the kitchen preparing breakfast, he suddenly fell asleep, phone mid message.

 

* * *

 

The train ride back to campus didn’t give him enough time for sleep. Constantly worried about missing his stop, Lance was in and out of semi-conscious sleep until it announced the university stop. He dragged himself to his apartment, collapsing on the couch and slept for what only felt like twenty minutes.

What was in fact, three hours of awkward sleeping, was interrupted by Hunk, reminding him they had study session in about thirty minutes, and it was the hardest chapter in the book. Groaning, Lance slipped out of the couch, grabbed his notebook, and followed them out the door.

So there he was again, sitting across from Keith, who looked even more irritated and tired than usual. “Aw, didn’t catch your beauty sleep?” Lance attempted to tease. Not totally his best one, but he was only working on three hours of sleep.

Keith smiled cheekily and stuck up his middle finger. Lance took that as a win.

Shiro cleared his throat. “Are you two okay?”

“Fine.” They answered. Lance crossed his arms and turned away, while Keith rolled his eyes.

“Didn’t get much sleep.” Lance explained, smirking despite the bags under his eyes. “Up texting a really cute guy.”

“Cute guy? Customized avatars on WoW doesn’t count.” Keith said, equaling Lance’s smirk.

“Alright just because you’re not getting laid—

“And due to the location of Earth 3, gravitational time dilation has changed time on that planet. What is considered one earth year for us is only two hours for them!” Hunk suddenly yelled.

Taking one last look at each other, the two returned to their textbooks. Shiro gave out another exasperated sigh.

 

* * *

 

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  So do I win?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Hell no! I just fell asleep. I have an apa essay sayin ur wrong.
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  And I have a refute to that.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  So do we keep playing this game or call a truce? Cuz I think we can make it a sexy truce ;)
> 
> **Princezuko3:**  
>  Har-har. I accept said truce, but not feelin the sex

Lance shrugged to himself, expecting the rejection.

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  So wat else do u lik? Got cats and SW done
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  I think I saw a poster of atla? I haven’t met anyone else whose watched it besides my roommate.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Whaaaaa??? How?!

“Ow! Hunk what the hell!” Lance yelped as he rubbed the back of his hand.

Hunk lightly swung his spoon. “No texting at the table.”

“Pft, no problem daddy.”

“Okay ew, fine just disrespect our dinner.”

Rolling his eyes, Lance put away his phone and continued to eat dinner. He kept glancing at his pocket though, waiting for the little light to blink.

 

* * *

 

Monday test? Probably flunked it again. Getting into an argument with Keith, done. Stuck in the library the rest of his afternoon researching for his paper, total hell. But going to bed, reading that Princezuko’s favorite paring was indeed Sokka and Yue made the day worth it. Now Lance loved all the girls on the show, they were so diverse and badass in their own way. It was just that Yue’s self-sacrificing story brought him to tears as a kid. For a year he talked to the full moon, trying to get in contact with Yue. He couldn’t believe his sister let him get away with that.

In the middle of sending a well thought out text regarding the military plans during the eclipse, he received a text from Cliff asked if he wanted to join them on a group date Wednesday night. He met Cliff back in Cargo Flight Simulation during his freshman year, and while they didn’t hang out too often he considered him a good buddy. Freshman year was also the time Lance was really, pathetically, trying to get laid by hitting on everyone in the dorm or in class. He’ll admit now, not his prettiest time, but he and Cliff had a lot of fun bar hopping and striking conversations with girls.

Apparently, Cliff was able to get a couple girls from the nursing program to join them on the date. Lance didn’t really interact with students outside the piloting program but figured, hey, cute girls in nursing outfits. They probably weren’t going to show up in their uniforms but since Cliff made the date, they were cute at least.

Just as he was about to reply he received another text from Princezuko3.

Lance stared at the notification, then back at his text to Cliff. The date sounded like a lot of fun, but would that be cheating on the prince?

He shook his head and told Cliff he was joining. There was no cheating if he was just talking to a potential fuck buddy, and even the concept of a fuck buddy meant sex only, none of the emotional baggage with it.

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Alright new question, because I’m watching some cheesy zombie film with my roommate. Weapon of choice in a zombie apocalypse?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Rifle, duh! U?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Some kind of sword, Katana maybe? Guns are too loud
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Loud but im a g8 marksmen!
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Wait really? That’s pretty cool! What kind do you fire?

Unable to contain his excitement, Lance replied with various pictures of the guns he fired. His uncle was a hunter, so every summer since he was a kid Lance would go out and learn how to shoot. He didn’t own any firearms himself, but his uncle had a good supply that he was allowed to try out under his supervision.

Princezuko’s reply were pictures of his knife collection, varying from hunting knives, a stone one, a few throwing knives, and an engraved pocket knife that had his name written in Hangul in a leather case. If they were to meet, he would love to see him use his knife in a fight.

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  u into knife throwin?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Used to do some back in high school. Altho my roommate isn’t too fond of them lol
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Y? What did u do?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Apparently it’s not sanitary to use my knives to open canned soup and filet a fish. I wash them tho!

Lance laughed, trying to imagine himself or Pidge cooking with throwing knives and giving Hunk a huge headache. Despite Lance knowing how to cook, his parents and Hunk were always cautious when he had to cut something, even fruit.

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Do u keep them hidden in your socks and stuff?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  what like some kind of spy? Because yes I do.

Wow, Lance thought. Even if he was joking, he was fucking cool

* * *

 

Cliff waved as Lance entered the bar patio. They surrounded a stone fire pit, sitting in the pattern of boy-girl-boy-girl. Cliff nodded towards a girl with long black hair and stunning purple eyes. She was the only one without a partner.  

“This is Lisa, Lisa, Lance.”

He politely shook her hand and offered to buy her next drink, which she gladly accepted. Cliff seemed to be in the middle of a story, excitedly telling the tale how he fought a great white shark back in Australia. Total bullshit, but he was a natural entertainer so everyone was listening intently. His tactic was definitely working on the girl he was hitting on, as she giggled and scooted closer to him as he kept talking.

Kirk, the blue merman as Lance nicknamed him, had his arm around a girl with fiery red hair and orange skin. Rocky and Ginger (he caught her name when Rocky asked her a question), stopped listening to Cliff part way and whispered to each other, giggling every now and then behind their pints.

Lance was finishing his first drink when he felt Lisa’s shoulder touch his. She didn’t say anything, though, as she politely paid attention to Cliff.

“Yeah, so Kirk, Rocky, Lance and I were all battling through the asteroid belt, no armed weapons, just the machine and the void of space.” He failed to mention that trip was just a simulation when they were freshmen, but none of the guys were going to ruin that. “And while I did have things under control, Lance here becomes everyone’s knight and shining armor. Weaved through the belt like he’s done it a thousand times and rescued all of us!”

Lisa smiled. “Wow, that’s really brave of you Lance.”

“Heh, well I did do a lot of casual travel through the asteroids. Plus, Rocky here- he did a great maneuver where—” He felt his pocket buzz with a new message. He would have ignored it if it was blinking blue for a text, but instead it was green, meaning it was from his facebook or grindr account. “Come on, tell them what you did out there!”

“Alright, so you know how pilots nose dive for those air force shows? Imagine that but with—"

While Lisa was looking at Rocky, Lance checked his message, surprised to see that it was Princezuko.

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Why the fuck do I keep attracting fuck boys?

He raised an eyebrow, completely confused when another message appeared.

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Sorry, that was meant for my friend.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  lol no prob. U ok?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Uh. Yeah. Bad date is all.

Well, now Lance wasn’t so sure what to think of that. Only because with how Princezuko refused to meet up with him, he didn’t expect him to be on a date. He mentioned before that he’s rejected guys through text in the past, so now that he was willing to meet with someone was just… well it made Lance really curious. He wondered who the guy was, and what the hell he did that got him so angry.

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Rlly? Wat happened?

“—And so Lance—”

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Guy got all handsy, while we were at a public place. Said no but he kept going
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Gross. Im sorry u had to experience that. What did u do?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Punched him and left. Altho the cops may be after me for assault. Idk

Lance chuckled at that. That guy definitely deserved a punch if Princezuko said no.

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  I doubt the guy has the balls to call the cops. Nice tho w the punch. U do martial arts?

“Uh, Lance?”

“Huh?” He asked, dumbfounded as he looked up from his phone.

Kirk stared at the guys, then at Lance. “You were going to tell us about how you’re friends with the Princess of Altea?”

The girls' eyes lit up. “Yes, please tell us how! Alteans are so beautiful! How did you get to know the Princess?” Lisa asked, leaning closer to Lance.

“Oh Allura! Yeah, I met her through a friend. She’s dating one of—"

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Yeah, train every day if I can. A gym on Europa has a great facility. Anyway what are you up to?

“Dating one of…?” Cliff asked, signaling him to continue his train of thought.

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Middle of a group date.

“My friends, Pidge—no Shiro! Yeah Shiro’s been dating her for a year or so.”

“Damn, of course Shiro gets the Princess.” Cliff whistled. “Guy is a legend before he even graduates.”

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Oh sorry dude! I can let you go.

Lisa leaned forward so that Lance was looking at her rather than his phone. “So what’s Altea like? It’s so far but I’m sure the Princess gets you there like super fast!”

“I mean she has a really cool and fast ship, uh, but she's usually on Earth more because of Shiro…”

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  No ur fine. U ok tho? U home now?

He didn’t miss Lisa’s pout when he sent a reply instead of fully answering her question. Cliff coughed before talking again, a little loud to distract everyone from Lance’s obvious disinterest.

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Nah. Roommate and his gf doing a stay-in date, don’t want to walk in. Just chillin on the moon.

The next message was a picture of the night sky. A set of stars glowed brighter than the others, and Lance recognized it as the Capricorn constellation.

 

> **Swaggerblue** :  
>  damn, that’s pretty. Wanna picture of a fire to warm you up, fire bender?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Haha sure. Not a fan of the cold but it’s nice and quiet here.

He sent the picture of the fire pit, capturing the red and yellow flames and glowing red of the wood. He returned to the picture of the stars, though, just to appreciate the beauty of the still night. Living in the middle of the city meant light pollution. The only time he was able to see the stars was when he left for flight missions, or if he has enough time and money to go out for interstellar bar hopping.

“So _anyway,_ ” Cliff said, “It’s still a little early, guys wanna hit the karaoke bar?”

There were murmurs of agreement from all parties, except Lance who still had his eyes glued to his phone.

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  This is gonna sound strange but fire is so pretty. I once learned how to fire dance.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  No way the Hawaiian thingy?? U from Hawaii?

“Lance, you coming?”

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  I lived there for a few months. I learned after I snuck into a party lol.

“Uh, nah, I think I’m good for the night.” Lance said sheepishly. “Essay and dishes to do. Have fun though!”

The guys just gave him an incredulous look, Cliff especially. He gave him an awkward grin, as a silent apology, but when Lisa huffed and pushed past him to go with Ginger, Lance realized he may have ruined the guy’s night, or at least Cliff’s night.

They departed outside the bar, the group going towards the shopping district while Lance was heading home.

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  ok, ok, u gotta meet w/ me at least to show me ur fire bending.
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  lol I’m not that impressive. Almost burn my hair every time.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Still tho! More than I can do haha. Why were u in Hawaii?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Traveled a lot. Just around the west and space though.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  ‘just space’ lol no biggie huh?

“Oh hey Lance, you’re home early. Date didn’t go so well?”

Lance didn’t realize he was in the middle of removing his shoes and closing the front door when he heard Pidge’s voice. He looked around, questioning when he even arrived at the doorstep. “Nah, Cliff was showing off as usual.”

Pidge made a face at Cliff’s name, the two sharing an unpleasant past since Cliff was a little too blunt and insensitive. “Fair enough. And also it’s easier to remove your jacket if you let go of your phone.”

With his arms stretched out, one of his sleeves was caught in the hand holding his phone. “Riiight. Anyway I’m heading to bed, smell ya in the morning!”

“Now? It’s barely nine.”

“Beauty sleep Pidge, gotta keep my skin silky. G’night!”

Pidge affectionately scoffed. “Night Lance.”

After a quick shower and brush, Lance was lying on his bed, phone just barely out of reach as it charged on the wall. Every time the green notification appeared he took the effort to reach for it just to read and reply back.

He hoped he wasn’t annoying Princezuko with his questions, but the guy has been traveling around the universe since he was 13! At 13 Lance was awkwardly trying get through middle school in his hometown. In fact, besides the family vacations and his uncle’s farm, Lance never had the opportunity to really travel until college. No wonder this Princezuko guy was hard to impress, he’s seen it all.

Lance was a little jealous of that, though, to be able to explore so much before eighteen. And the jealously hit mostly because Lance never thought of traveling like that. He loved spending time with his family, and while he wouldn’t abandon them entirely to travel the universe, he did wish he was able to explore without restrictions. No government or University holding him down, just free roaming.

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Sorry to cut it short. Heading back to earth now. Text you later?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Yea! Get back safely! Have a good night Prince
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  haha, night.

Locking his phone, Lance finally relaxed into his mattress, smiling at their conversation. ‘Text you later’ huh? He was looking forward to his next message, while keeping in mind to severely apologize to Cliff for bailing early. Lance knew it was his fault, he really should have just kept his phone off, but there was just something so lonely about his message that made Lance want to drop his plans and fly out there. He couldn’t, of course since he didn’t have a personal space craft, and buses to the solar system were very expensive, so texting was the best viable option.

 

* * *

 

 

Before closing his eyes, he saw a blinking green light, with a message saying he made it back safely. And when he woke up the next morning, he was greeted not only by another green light, but with a beautiful sunrise on the coast. The red rays of sunlight looked like fire, not violent or destructive, but like it was dancing and giving life.

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  couldn’t sleep, had to take this picture.

He must have had fast space craft to go all the way to the coast and capture that picture. The university was in the middle of the state, surrounded by large metal buildings and a man made river. His home town was still a good forty minutes from the beach, but the way home was at least an hour train ride.  

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Nice pic, but damn that's early. U a vampire or smthing?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Hell no! I like the sun too much. How was the group date?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Meh, left early. But no biggie I wasn’t planning anything to happen.

He paused the second he sent the message, finally hitting him that he really did ditched out on a really cute girl just to talk to someone he’s never met. She definitely seemed interested in Lance, but he made no effort to really try to impress her or anyone that night. It was a routine the guys did, telling outrageous piloting stories, making sure each guy gets a chance to shine, and then the girls fell for them.

Except, he wanted to tell those stories to Princezuko more than Lisa. Huh.

He shook his head, remembering that Cliff was stealing the spotlight anyway, and Lisa gave him a look that said she wanted more than just a fun night. He wasn’t looking for that anyway, so maybe it was a good thing he ditched out early.

“Yo Lance, Rocky told me you ditched them last night.” Hunk said when he made his way to the kitchen.

“What? I didn’t _totally_ ditch them! They asked if I wanted to go and said no, I didn’t just leave out of nowhere.” Lance defended.

“So was the date really not fun?” Pidge asked. “You seemed excited that you were going out with the nursing students.”

His phone pinged.

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Uh, but lightning though? Can totally defeat water with electricity!
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Not if I bloodbend you first!

“Are you still texting Keith?” Hunk asked.

“You and Keith are friends now?”

“What? Hunk I’m not texting Keith, I’m texting Prince Zuko.”

Pidge and Hunk exchanged looks, with Pidge shaking their head. Hunk sighed. “Okay how do you not realize that’s Keith? The picture literally shows his face!”

“For the last time that is not Keith! Pidge, come on do you think that’s Keith?”

Handing Pidge his phone, he waited for them to give a concrete answer. “I’m on Lance’s side.”

Lance pointed a finger at Hunk. “Ha!”

“Pidge that’s Keith!”

“Let me finish,” They said. “I don’t think that’s Keith he’s texting, obviously someone is catfishing Lance and just so happened to use Keith’s picture.”

“Ohh, that makes a little more sense.”

“No! That picture is still not Keith! Besides he doesn’t have a facebook or anything, so how could someone get his picture?”      

Hunk rubbed his chin. “Hm, well that is true. Then he really must be texting Keith!”

“Argh,” Lance groaned, taking back his phone. “You guys are impossible.”

“You know, I do hope it is Keith, though.” Hunk said.

“Why? So you can rub it in my face?”

“No, because it shows that you two can get along. You two have been fighting since last year. If it really is him then maybe there can be some civility for all of us. I’m sure Shiro is tired of the fighting too.”

“Alright first, we’re not ‘fighting’, just friendly rivalry.”

Pidge used air quotes. “Friendly?”

“I push him he pushes me, that’s why we’re neck-in-neck for highest gpa in our program. Why ruin that? Do you want me to fail my classes?” He asked dramatically.

Pidge rolled their eyes. “There are healthier ways to be top of the class.”

“You do you, I fight Keith, and the world stays in balance.”

Hunk shook his head. “Whatever man, just preparing you for disappointment.”

Lance just waved his hand as he headed out the door. Good he made plans to go to the gym anyway, so that he wouldn’t have to listen to Pidge and Hunk’s conspiracy theories. It may have been funny to them the first time but now they were definitely getting on his nerves! To have them say that he’s talking to the guy he couldn’t be in the same room with for an hour… why were they so persistent on being friends with him?

With how defensive he was, he sounded like he hated Keith. And as much as the guy irritated the hell out of him, there was no genuine hatred towards the other pilot. He just couldn’t stand how much of a snob he was, knowing that he was a naturally talented pilot yet showing no humility!

When Lance challenged him a year ago, saying that he was going to take his number one spot, Keith just scoffed and walked away. He basically said Lance wasn’t good enough to take him, and that’s how the rivalry began. Lance wouldn’t mind if it stayed that way either. They’d graduate in a year, and they would be doing their own things, so Keith and this dumb rivalry would become irrelevant to him anyway.

After several sets of bench presses and two laps around the pool, Lance finally felt himself cool off. He wouldn’t let his roommates or the idea of Keith get to him. He was perfectly content with his weird bachelor life and talking to this person via grindr. Despite his failed attempts at a relationship his freshman year, and his hormonal needs to get laid, his main goal was to graduate top of the class, become the best pilot in the whole damn galaxy, and live his life traveling and providing for his family. He was going to fly with his friends, and everything was going to be dandy. Getting laid was just icing on that cake.

After his afternoon classes and a civil dinner with his roommates, Lance was back in his room, phone in hand again as he texted Princezuko. He was telling him about a museum in Seattle that featured various pop culture themes, and how he was able to go to the Star Wars exhibit a couple years earlier.

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Haha srry. Didn’t mean to spam u.
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  It’s fine. I love it. Honestly you’re the first person I’ve geeked out too in a long time.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Really? What about ur roommate?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Yeah but he’s busy, internship and a girlfriend. Other ppl are either obnoxious or don’t care too much.
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  So thanks for listening. I really appreciate it.

Lance longingly stared at his words, feeling upset. He just, couldn’t believe what he was reading honestly. Even when Hunk and Pidge were busy with their own things (and irritating him about Keith), they always made time for each other, and he always had his sister to talk too as well. He hated how lonely Princezuko was, and even though they were texting he wanted to do more.

Taking a deep breath, he typed.

 

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Hey… I know we just wanted 2 hook up and stuff but do you want to meet anyway? No sex, just to talk and fan-boy about everything.

His heart was beating a mile a minute, staring at the screen. When a minute passed, he knew he stepped boundaries again. Princezuko already had a shitty time meeting another person from grindr, of course he would reject all new meetings—

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Yeah. I’d like that.

He jumped on his bed, fist pumping the air before falling back down. He couldn’t contain the giant smile on his face.

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  And… uh, if it does lead to sex I wouldn’t mind either. But just talking first, yeah?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Agreed 100%. But /in case/ we go further, what are the rules? I don’t want to push boundaries. For future reference.

It was another long pause before the next message.       

 

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Thank you.  
>  Always use condoms, no means no, and no visible hickies.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  All noted and memorized. Where should we meet?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Tomorrow, Paladin Cat Café, 7pm?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Yup, know the place! I’ll see you then Prince. 
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  See you tomorrow 

Lying on his back with his phone on his chest, Lance fell asleep with grinning like a fool, thinking of that warm and gentle smile.

 

* * *

 

Lance swaggered down the stair case, popping his collar and eating a couple of mints. He spun on his heels, winking at Pidge and Hunk who were on the couch playing video games. “I will see you losers later. If I bring him here, please ignore the sounds we plan to make.”

He laughed as the two loudly groaned, and he practically skipped his way to the café to finally meet the Prince. He knew that meeting wouldn’t lead to sex just yet, but he loved teasing his friends about it.

Lance returned just an hour later, hands stuffed in his pockets and a scowl on his face. He refused to make eye contact with Hunk, who was obviously smirking.

“So how was the date?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

He ignored the fact that Pidge handed him a five-dollar bill, slamming the door to his room.


	2. Keith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith's new texting friend becomes someone of great interest. Meanwhile, Allura continues to try and amend things between Shiro and Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *This is a long note to explain why it took so damn long to update. *
> 
> So the basic reason why it took so long to update is I had an emotional breakdown trying to write this chapter. It was just very difficult for some reason and I began to doubt myself and I essentially haven't touched my ao3 (besides reading other fics) for two months just to step away from it. I also began a job at Legoland that has taken up most of my time. That's also why I haven't replied to any comments, which I will work on now! 
> 
> So thank you everyone who has commented on the previous chapter and my other stories. I have read them all I just need to reply now! Also thank you to [tacolatte21](http://tacolatte21.tumblr.com), [mikiri](http://mikiri.tumblr.com/), [voxamissa](https://voxamissa.tumblr.com/) and [ bluerobokitty ](http://bluerobokitty.tumblr.com/) for your encouraging and compassionate messages when I did indeed breakdown. It really meant a lot to read those!! Also shoutout to [omg-i-can-draw](http://omg-i-can-draw.tumblr.com/) for making my day at work!! Meeting you was fantastic!
> 
> Without further adeu, here's Keith's chapter. Enjoy.
> 
> Unbeta'd.

“You know Keith, we really don’t mind if you join us tonight.” Shiro said as he ironed his dress shirt.

Keith was draped over the backside of the couch, watching his friend pressing his clothes. He blew at the strands of wet hair in front of his eyes. Fresh out of the shower and in his sleepwear, Keith looked too comfortable to change and leave the apartment. “Sure, being the third wheel is _so_ much fun.”

“Not third wheel, like… we’re all going on a date?” Shiro attempted with an awkward smile.

“Yeah, because tonight I’ll kiss you and Allura and join you two in bed.”

“…maybe not my best answer. But you’re just going to sit here tonight. Come out with us.”

Keith shook his head. “I appreciate the offer but if I were to join you two I’d rather have a date as well. Third wheeling is only fun when you two go to the Cheesecake factory.” The place had giant portions that neither of the two could ever finish. Plus, Shiro was the type of always pay for dessert even if Allura couldn’t finish it all, so at the end of the night the leftovers were for Keith, and he never said no to a free, expensive meal.

Allura jumped on the couch, invading his personal space as she pressed her shoulder’s to his. “Well, good thing I have a solution!” She shoved his phone in front of his face.

Keith patted his sweatpants pocket. “When did you get my phone?”

“You left it on the table. Also you should probably password protect it. But that is beside the point.” She opened up an app that Keith did not download himself, and appeared was a profile under the works.

“What the hell is that?”

“A Grindr! Not like machine to make coffee, but a dating application.”

“What?” Shiro and Keith asked.

Keith tried to grab his phone, but Allura just lifted it above his head. She was much taller than him, so he saw no point in trying to reach as he sat back down and sulked.

Shiro looked very skeptical. “Allura, any dating app is very… sketchy to say the least. Why did you make one for him?”

“Have you not seen Keith lately? He’s lonely, and the other guys he’s met are dishonorable and overall disgusting.” Shiro’s face fell, staring at Keith who sunk deeper into the couch.

There were many cultural differences between Earthlings and Alteans, and one of them, apparently, is no secrets between friends—or it could have just been an Allura thing. Keith’s attempt at ‘dating’ since his breakup had been an unsuccessful endeavor. He went to Allura to talk about his problems, since she was a great listener and loved to hear about his life. He assumed, though, it was implied to keep it between the two of them.

“I am right here and can defend myself.” He murmured.

She pushed his head down to the cushion. “ _So_ , I made him a profile so that he can see the guys _before_ going out with them.”

Shiro crossed his arms. “But those aren’t even for dating, they’re for hookups.”

“Keith is mature enough for casual intercourse. I thought that is acceptable on Earth?”

Keith waved a hand. “I am still here.”

“Yes but…” Shiro sighed. “Casual hookups just seem; I don’t know…”

“Slutty? Like I’m just whoring myself?” Keith finished, snickering when Shiro gave him a disappointing glare. “Come on Shiro, I can take care of myself. So what if I’m just hooking up?”

“Yes!” Allura agreed. “Because once he is lain Keith’s will definitely, as you said, ‘stop looking so constipated and irritable”. And intercourse is the best way to relieve stress.”

Keith glared at his friend. “Constipated and irritable?”

Shiro’s face turned a lovely shade of red. “I uh…” Keith shook his head and looked to Allura, who finally put her hand down so he could grab his phone.

“I didn’t complete your profile just yet; you must have the final approval.”

After side glancing her, he slowly took a look into the app to see the damage she has done. Similar to no secrets between friends, Keith had come to notice how blunt Allura could be. Even though she had good intentions, and they haven’t gotten into a fight based on something she’s said, there was no way his profile would sound remotely normal if she wrote it.

When the profile picture of her choice was shown, Keith frowned. “People will know that’s me. I’m not sure I want my face plastered around the galaxy.”

“It’s not _that_ noticeable. You’re wearing large sunglasses here. Plus, it’s the only picture I have of you smiling! Men will fall to their knees for your attention.”

Shiro coughed uncomfortably. Keith ignored him.

“Why is my name Prince Zuko 3?”

“Shiro and I were watching your old DVDs and we thought you resembled the fire prince! The three was just a number I chose.”

Keith kept his frown. “What makes you think that?” Tilting her head, she placed one hand over his left eye. He groaned when Shiro and Allura giggled, and he slapped her hand away. “Okay but is ‘power bottom’ really necessary?”

Shiro then choked on his own breath, trying to couch to cover up his clear disproval of that information.

“I believe these men should know the type you are, to save the trouble of asking later.”

“Wait, why are potatoes written here?!”

She threw her hands up. “I was running out of things you enjoy! And food is always good information for your partner to know and I saw you eating a fries the other day so I generalized it.”

“But that’s just such a random food item.”

Allura crossed her arms and huffed. “Well, Keith, if you weren’t so _secretive_ your profile would have been easier to build.”

“I am not secretive!” He defended. Her arms were still crossed, while Shiro returned to his ironing. “For the record I like Chicago style hot dogs.”

“I still haven’t published this so you may still fix it.” Keith gave her another skeptical look. “It might be fun! And since you can see their biographies first, you can filter through the men you prefer.”

“I guess that saves a lot of time for dating…”

“Keith…” Shiro said, his tone very tense.

“Shiro.” Allura mocked.

He overlooked Allura. “Just, be careful.” Shiro’s voice was low, full of worry and concern for him. Keith couldn’t help, now, but feel bad that he hadn’t told Shiro his misgivings regarding his failing love/sex life. It must sound so desperate to turn to a dating app since Keith’s in-person encounters have been bad so far.

Keith gave him a small smile, acknowledging his warning. “Of course. Anyway you guys should get going soon. I want to blast my music in the apartment.”

* * *

While Keith looked like many young adults with his eyes glued to his phone, he only used it for his music or to text Shiro and Allura, otherwise it was in his pocket or desk, untouched. Even if he was in his room bored out of his mind, his phone still wasn’t the first thing he went to. Which is why he totally forgot about completing his grindr profile for another week or so, until Allura asked if he’s gone on a date yet.

He went back to the app re-looked over his profile before finally publishing it. With nothing else for him to do he tried to scroll through the various profiles, and after five minutes with no interest he put his phone away and went out on a jog.

That night he found two new, but disappointing, messages.

The first guy commented how he likes Asian guys, and asked if Keith was willing to dress up for him. The sunglasses in his picture made it hard to tell his race, but the man’s profile read ‘into Asian-guys, anime, and dress-up objectification’. He never pressed ‘block’ so fast.

Second guy just had a simple message of ‘what’s up’, but his bio said he wanted a serious relationship. Keith purposely wrote ‘looking for friends with benefits’ specifically to avoid commitment.

His first relationship only lasted a year, and he almost lost everything. Keith was not going to let that happen again.

In the upcoming weeks Keith only looked at grindr when someone messaged him first. He held his first long conversation with a guy that seemed promising. Their first few meetings went well, but when he attempted to take him to bed all rules Keith asked beforehand were broken. So Keith broke his hand.

Keith had no idea how he even met up, in person, with the next guy, but he seemed to be a master manipulator in his text messages. He presented Keith a contract stating their relationship as ‘playmates’ and the rules Keith must abide by. To humor the guy and himself he skimmed through it, and wow that guy had some power hungry kinks despite Keith stating he was a power bottom. After the guy’s failed attempt to act ‘suave and sexy’ Keith told him to meet him in the bathroom to cross off one of the sex things on the list. He locked him a used stall.

Apparently, it was obvious his dating life was not going to well when Allura found him brooding on the couch and watching Martian telenovelas without subtitles, so she set up his next date. An Altean, was nice and polite, but unfortunately was also looking for something serious. Keith actually felt bad for rejecting him at the end, and his issue of 24/7 constipated and irritation aura still lingered.

Finals week of the winter quarter distracted him enough to not want to get laid, and the beginning of spring with Contemporary Flight with the hardest professor in the university made him forget about it. He had enough on his plate studying for those ridiculous tests, his independent study with test flights, and trying not to kill Lance every Sunday during study session.

Still, that didn’t stop Allura from asking how he was doing and if there was anything else she could help relieve his stress. It was nice of her, realizing that she was just looking out for him, but at that point there was nothing anyone could do. He ruined the best thing that’d ever happened to him, and there was no way he could recreate that with someone new.

“Well, if there are any men out there let me know! And do not skip out on the details!”

“Yes ma’am.” Keith saluted from his bed. Allura waved to him and closed his door. He waited until he heard her walk down the stairs to Shiro when he sighed loudly and turned to his side. His phone was glowing green with a new notification. He read the cheesy message, then the guy’s profile, and swiped him away.

He was definitely being too picky about this, but like Allura said it was a great way to filter out the tools and assholes, even if the last couple of guys weren’t the best. It still saved him some time, or wasted whatever dignity he had left.

Keith wasn’t ashamed of his sex life per say. He established to Shiro, many times, that he enjoyed sex, and, now that he was out of a relationship, he missed sex because it was a lot of fun and it felt good just to let go and loosen up that way. Of course, he wanted it on his terms, with a guy he was compatible with both mentally and physically. If Shiro was getting laid every night why couldn’t he?

As he mindlessly swiped away from profiles where their faces were too close to the camera or their profile reading something totally fake or pretentious, he stopped at one profile that only showed his abs.

Normally, that was another swipe away for Keith, but there was something particularly different about this one. It may have had to do with his blueish-gray cat in the background that had a weird expression, but the rest of the picture was worth a second glance. Only the lower half of his face was shown, while his hand lifted his shirt to expose his muscled abs. His pants were loosened and hanging low, revealing his boxers and hip bones. His posture, and that sly smile, just screamed confident, which he had a right to be since he looked really good.

It could have been a photoshopped picture for all he knew, and even if it was his biography was at least of little interest.

Swaggerblue69  
21  
5’9”  
Single  
Looking for: casual hookups/fwb  
Likes: cats, space, flying, video games, movies/tv | I have the high ground!

Keith tapped his chin, debating if he should message him. He never messaged first, only because he had no idea what to say. He’s received so many stupid responses from other guys and he did not want to end up sound like one of them.

But somehow his thumb slipped and a yellow star appeared on the corner of Swaggerblue69’s profile. He dropped his phone, knowing that the other guy was going to get a notification that someone liked his picture. Messaging him now would only seem weird and a little desperate.

“Eh.” Keith shoved is phone under his pillow and took out a book from his shelf, deciding to fall asleep in the middle of a classical tragedy.

* * *

 

The next morning, he was greeted with not one, but fifteen new messages all from Swaggerblue69.

> **Swaggerblue69:**  
>  Hey  
>  sup?  
>  How u doin?

Well, he didn’t seem to believe in the double text rule.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Ur as beautiful as the fiery sun  
>  is that Verona beach?  
>  And u have pretty hair

Keith didn’t believe in the rule either, but then again he didn’t receive this many text messages under that amount of time.

> **Swaggerblue69**  
>  also cool helmet! What do u drive?  
>  Kay ur online. If u don’t respond my text will get weirder  
>  I come to serve u Prince Hotman  
>  Prince volcanic eruption  
>  I’m demoting you from Prince to Baron  
>  Baron of lighter fluid  
>  Peasant of an electrical fire place  
>  Humid undgodly weather of Florida  
>  Soggy bowl of cereal

As ridiculous as this guy was Keith couldn’t help but laugh at the obscure names. At least he seemed funny.

> **Princezuko3**  
>  Do you always annoy guys like this?  
>  But we have the same interests, what’s up?

“Keith, food’s ready!” Shiro called from the kitchen.                                                                  

He put his phone in his pockets, ascending down the stairs with bed-hair and scratching is stomach. While Shiro was in a nice collared shirt and jeans, Allura was wearing Shiro’s shirt and a pair of boxer shorts, with her hair up in a messy bun and eyes half-lidded with a stack of papers in front of her. She must have been working on some political things between Earth and Altea, and from some blank papers she didn’t seem to finish it.

Shiro passed them their plates, filled with bacon, eggs, and whole wheat toast. He kissed the top of Allura’s head as she lazily picked up her fork to eat.

“So how was the movie?” Keith asked.

“It was good! You definitely should have came with us.” Shiro said.

Allura groaned. “You should have gone in my place. These reports are still unfinished, your leader expects answers about trades with the Balmerians, and father insists to have my coronation by the oceans rather than in the castle and—"

Shiro took her hand, gently caressing his thumb on her palm. “After dinner the President and her father asked to push the date on some paperwork. When we got home she stayed up trying to finish it.”

That explained why she looked so tired. He just assumed they got home late because of all the fun they were having.

“What did you end up doing?”

“Read, watched TV, just relaxed and all that.”

“Sounds like a good night then.”

 Keith shrugged. It wasn’t a bad one, but he didn’t make it an effort for it to be spectacular. He was content with his personal time, even if it looked lonely to anyone else.

“Help Allura with her paperwork,” Keith said as he finished his food. “I got the dishes.”

Shiro nodded, meaning a thank you. Allura let out a low whine.

He finished the dishes and changed into his gym clothes, announcing to them he was going out on a run. Keith jogged between three and five miles around campus, taking his time by pacing his breathing and enjoying the scenery. He made a quick stop by the quad, letting the sprinkles of the giant fountain cool his skin when he felt is phone buzz.

> **Swaggerblue69**  
>  Yo took u long enough! :p  
>  nm, just saw how cute u r and wanted 2 say hi.

It was just passed noon. Keith sent his reply around ten in the morning, so his new ‘friend’ must have just woken up. After taking a big drink of water he replied.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  well thanks for those various nicknames. I’ll ask the other guy to use it in bed
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  ha-ha. That is sarcasm btw  
>  Srsly would u use the word soggy in bed?  
>  No wait, would u rather hear soggy, or mushy?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Eww. Ugh do I have to choose?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69:**  
>  Ur partner is a sex god but uses these words.  
>  Choose.

Keith shook his head with a light laugh. This was certainly starting off strange.

> **Princezuko3:  
>  ** … soggy. Mushy sounds like something broke.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69:  
>  ** Kay I’ll keep that in mind when I take u to bed ;)
> 
> **Princezuko3:**  
>  Ha-ha (that’s sarcasm btw)  
>  K if you get to use soggy, then choose between moist and chunky
> 
> **Swaggerblue69:  
>  ** Wtf what kind of sex r we havin??
> 
> **Princezuko3:  
>  ** Obviously on a water bed. Or a wet sandy bed.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  …  
>  ur cute so I’d tolerate that.  
>  I love the beach but beach sex is not fun
> 
> **Princezuko3:  
>  ** Oh, so you’ve had sex? Good to know I’m not dealing with a bluffer
> 
> **Swaggerblue69:  
>  ** Whaaaa? U think I’m a virgin?? Nah man I’m getting sex all the time ヽ( ★ω★)ノ
> 
> **Princezuko3:  
>  ** Uh-huh is that why ur talking to me? Because ur not getting laid?

It took a few more seconds for him to reply.

> **Swaggerblue69:  
>  ** I plead the fifth  
>  Answer is moist btw

Keith glanced up at the time, realizing he should probably head home soon. He had to shower and look over his notes one more time in order to give a productive study session. This chapter was more depressing, and a lot of information with just the first two pages alone. Keith only skimmed through the ending summary, getting bored, and throwing his book aside for the weekend.

He was getting worried, though, since he did fail the first test, and just barely passed the second one. Even the brilliant minds of Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk could barely scrape a C-. He wished that his grade was his main worry for the session, though, because his real headache came from Lance Sanchez.

Before he would allow Sanchez to erode his thoughts, Keith took a deep breath, concentrating on happier, calmer things like cats and the beaches on Altea. He would not let another verbal session with Lance ruin his test score.

* * *

Keith slammed his hands on the table, pushing himself to stand up. “ _Clearly_ if you read the damn chapter then you would know Bondarenko died of third degree burns, _not_ the lack of oxygen in his shuttle!”

Lance stood up too, pointing his finger in Keith’s direction. “Excuse me _Mullet_ I did read the chapter! I was referring to the fact that the oxygen levels in his shuttle were fluctuating at weird levels!”

Keith leaned over the table. “There was no fluctuation in the first place! He was in low pressure altitude, of so the oxygen levels would be higher than usual!”

Lance’s finger jabbed Keith’s chest. “The chapter clearly said fluctuating levels! Maybe _you’re_ the one who isn’t reading!”

Keith grabbed his hand. “Don’t touch me.”

Lance smirked. “You’re technically touching me though.”

Keith felt his eye twitch, opening his mouth ready to yell something when Shiro grabbed his shoulder and forced him to sit down. Pidge pulled Lance down by his jacket tassel, scrunching his hoodie around his face. Keith took that as a win.

“Uh guys,” Hunk spoke up from his book. “We’re only focusing on US related incidences.”

Keith ignored Pidge’s glare and Shiro’s ‘I’m disappointed in you’ face. Who knew a guy just one year older than him could pull off the same face a father would give their children when they did something wrong?

If it wasn’t for the fact Contemporary Theories on Piloting was the hardest class in the piloting program, Keith wouldn’t be spending every Sunday afternoon arguing with the most annoying guy in the university.

He met Lance last year in Piloting 1, and the self-proclaimed arrogant pilot never left his side. It wasn’t to their preference though, since they were aiming for the same degree they knew they would have the same classes until graduation. He just wished he didn’t have to spend one extra day with him. At least in Contemporary class he sat at the front so he wouldn’t have to face him.

His main problem with Lance, besides his loud voice, inability to understand personal space, and constantly crashing the simulator on a weekly basis, was how he _had_ to challenge Keith at everything. The first time he proclaimed to Keith that he was going to surpass him in the program, Keith just assumed he was talking big like he did with everything else. But after that Lance was always in his face, trying to talk over him during class, refuting everything Keith would say, and challenged him during flight simulations.

Keith should have just ignored him, and he really, really tried. But Lance burst through his personal bubble, so of course Keith fought back.

The pushing point occurred in the simulator when the two were, unfortunately, paired as co-pilots. A comment given by their professors in the past is that they were too reckless. However, both had a different style of recklessness, resulting in the strangest way for them to crash the simulator.

When asked to explain themselves, Lance blamed Keith’s lack of attention to detail, which was how they ran out of fuel so fast. Keith quickly rebutted him, saying if Lance just had proper control on his side the crash may not have been as rough. That began a verbal argument between the two, before their professor kicked them out of class where they just continued to fight.

Whether it was in the simulator, a test or a term paper, or the good seat in the auditorium lecture hall, they always found a reason to fight. And Keith was sure as hell going to end every fight victorious.

Or let Shiro end it for them. So long as Lance didn’t get the final say he was satisfied.

Hunk grumbled, burring his face in his text book. “Well, that’s all the information I can absorb.”

“Think we’ll actually pass this test?” Pidge asked.

“Nope.” Keith and Lance said. They glared at each other, but before one could say anything Shiro slammed the textbook shut.

“Well, we just retain the information we have and hope for the best.” Shiro said. As little as they learned from the session, he was right. What they know is better than not knowing anything.

Everyone else packed their notebooks in their backpacks.

“See you in class.” Pidge said, waving as Keith removed himself from the bench.

“Yup, good luck and pray that he’ll curve our grades at the end.” Keith waved back. That got a small chuckle out of everyone, although it was more out of bitterness since their professor definitely was not going to curve it.  

Luckily for Keith, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk lived on the opposite end of campus, so their departure from the library patio was the least awkward part of their failing sessions. But once they were out of sight, Shiro turned to Keith, face still showing disappointment. Keith looked away from him.

“Look, just save it. I’m sorry we weren’t productive again.”

“It’s not just that Keith. We’ve been classmates for a year now, how come you two still bicker like your life depends on it?”

Keith gripped the strap of his backpack tighter. “Hey, he’s the one who starts things okay? I’m not going to just let him walk over me.”

“He’s not walking over—I think you two should really talk about things.” Shiro said, shaking his head.

That sounded easier in concept than in reality. Keith was already the silent type, letting his actions play out more than his words. Lance was nothing but talk, always boastful and full of himself. Keith loved a confident person, but when they couldn’t admit their mistakes then they were a problem.

Crossing the street, Keith noticed the obnoxiously large boba mascot in front of a building. “I’ll figure something out,” he mumbled quickly, “But I’m thirsty. Are you going to get something or should I meet you at home?”

He knew Shiro didn’t have a sweet tooth, but he thought he’d ask anyway since boba was delicious. “Yeah, might as well. I’ll text Allura to see if she wants one too.”

A bell chimed as they entered the store. Behind a counter was a blond man in his 20’s, mindlessly playing with a stack of napkins until he noticed them walking in. He immediately stood up, straightened his apron, and smiled. His name tag read ‘Hunter. “Hey Keith! The usual?”

Keith gave him a small smile. “Yes, and two more orders too.” He turned back to Shiro. “I got this, what did you two want?”

“You sure?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, kinda my apology for being an ass today.”

Shiro patted his back, giving him a smile that said ‘I forgive you’. “One mint and just ice tea for me.”

“You got it.” Hunter said as he punched in their order. Keith felt Hunter’s hand as he passed him his credit card. When Hunter passed it back, he winked at Keith. “I’ll have your orders up soon.”

With another nod Keith took a seat next to Shiro. He’d become a regular at the boba shop, always stopping by after study session. He needed something sweet to destress after squabbling with Lance. Hunter worked Sunday, and after the third time walking in Keith realized Hunter may have a crush on him.

They had brief conversations whenever he came by, mostly of Hunter asking about his day, Keith giving an overview about his class, and ending with a goodbye. Hunter leaned on the counter, as if listening intently to Keith, with a smile and touching Keith’s hand or arm. From what he could gather, Hunter seemed like a decently nice person, but he couldn’t tell his true intentions. If he wanted something serious, Keith would have to break it off instantly, and then it would be very awkward to go to the shop every Sunday.

“One strawberry, mint, and ice tea to go!” Hunter called out, sliding their drinks on the counter. “So, another terrible session?” He asked when Keith approached the counter.

“Unfortunately, I think we’re going to fail this test too.”

“Aw man that sucks. Hey, if you do, but hopefully you don’t, come by the shop, I’ll get you a free drink.” He said, playfully punching Keith’s shoulder.

“I can’t make you do that.”

“It’ll be on me; I get a free boba after work anyway! But if you don’t feel comfortable just don’t fail, kay?”

Keith chuckled, taking the drinks and passing them to Shiro. “Alright, I’ll try. See you later.”

“See ya,” Hunter waved, returning to the sink to wash the blender.

Shiro took one look at Hunter, and waited until they left the shop to say, “He’s seems like a nice guy.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“So, you going to ask him out?”

Keith shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

“He’s friendly, and you kind of already know him since you go there a lot.”

“True, but I’m not sure if—” As he looked down to take a sip of his drink he noticed a set of numbers by his name. “Huh.”

Shiro nudged his shoulder. “Come on, if you’re looking for a guy might as well go for the one you already have a face for.”

Keith shot him a look. “Since when did you become interested in my love life?”

“Well… you haven’t really told me about the other guys.”

Keith never did, and the only way Shiro knew was through Allura. But those guys (only two, to be precise) were post-ex-boyfriend, when he was back on Earth. He took a sip of his drink to buy him time for an answer. “Uh, well there’s nothing to say really. They were all dicks. And you make it sound like I was with a lot of them.”

Shiro’s face fell. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

Sighing, Keith lightly bumped his shoulder playfully. “I know. But there’s really nothing to say.”

A lot had happened, the year that Keith disappeared, but nothing worth reporting. He never even told Allura what he was doing when he left the solar system. When he returned, Keith was more reserved than ever. Shiro pried, but he refused to say anything. It didn’t matter, though, because he couldn’t have Shiro look at him like a failure again.

“Okay.”

The rest of the way was in an uncomfortable silence. Keith loathed that he continued to leave things like that.

* * *

In his room, Keith stared at his empty cup in one hand and holding his phone in his other. After a few seconds, he typed in Hunter’s number and saved it. A new message from Swaggerblue69 appeared.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  What got u interested? Was it my abs ;)

Keith hated to sound so shallow, but that was one of the reasons he stayed on his profile longer than other’s he’d seen. For his age, he was really well fit and was not afraid to show it.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  ngl if those are real I’ll be impressed
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  I can show u ;)

But there was that problem. This guy was too eager to meet up for sex. And while Keith was definitely looking for sex, he wanted to get a good read of the guy before meeting up. So far he was having more fun just texting with playful banter than sex.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Eh, I rather see your cat.

There was at least one thing they could talk about. Keith had a great appreciation of cats, even though many cats he met had the complete opposite reaction of him. He was sure, though, Swaggerblue’s cat was not intentionally in the picture, but it was at least a great conversation starter.

Through a few more texts Keith finally revealed he never owned a cat, seeing as he didn’t know cow milk wasn’t good for them. Swaggerblue made an offer, to send him more pictures of his cat to keep him interested. Keith’s reply was the shrug emoji, but would stay interested if he did receive more pictures.

Before charging his phone for the night, he looked over at his new contact, debating to send the first text. He placed his phone down, deciding to maybe try again in the morning.

* * *

As expected, the test was brutal. The only information Keith was able to retain from their study session were the mechanical failures that Hunk reviewed, but that was only a fourth of the test. He was also going to kill their teacher, who said they were only focusing on US-related incidences, so the fact that he added USSR-USA conspiracies was total bullshit.

Shiro looked just as worried, so at least he wasn’t alone. But if Shiro failed the class, he would have to come back in the fall just to retake it despite graduating that June. It wouldn’t hold him back from walking, but he was sure Shiro would feel upset in himself. Keith just gave him a sympathetic smile, while Shiro laughed nervously.

Their professor announced a ten-minute break, so Keith took out his phone. He pulled up Hunter’s name.

> **Keith** :  
>  Yeah, I may need to take your offer on the drink  
>  It’s Keith btw

Just as he pressed send, another message from Swaggerblue appeared. They were still continuing their conversation about potentially meeting up while another picture of his cat was attached. The cat itself was gray, but each picture looked like it had a shade of blue. It was very big and seemed to enjoy snuggling in Swaggerblue’s clothes or bed.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  So you into cat things? Like ears and stuff

Keith just scoffed. Well, at least he didn’t _ask_ him to dress up.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  I’m going to stop texting now.

When he pressed send he realized the message may have come across as more aggressive than intended. Sure Swaggerblue’s question was a little distasteful, but maybe he was just making a joke too. Jokes and sarcasm over text messages were harder to decipher.

> **Hunter** :  
>  Oh hii!!  
>  And yeah haha, np. That bad huh?
> 
> **Keith** :  
>  Yeah just a bit lol. Thanks.

He put his phone away when the remaining students returned. He realized he should focus more on his classes, rather than chasing guys.

* * *

The following morning Keith ran through the campus park, a paved trail with imported trees and grass, when he noticed a cat scurry into the bushes. He stopped in his tracks, watching the bush ruffle, and the cat’s head popped out. Keith took a slow step towards the bush as the cat tilted its head, mewling.

Once close enough, Keith crouched down and held his hand out. “Here… kitty. I’m Keith… and I really think you’re cute.”

The cat sniffed the tip of his finger and gave him a little lick. Keith made a pathetic whine that attracted the cat. It stepped out of the bush and rubbed its cheeks on his hand. Trying not to move from his uncomfortable position, Keith used his other hand to pull out his cell phone to take a picture. But just as he got the camera to focus, the cat suddenly hissed and scratched him. His thumb pressed the camera just before he pulled back.

Keith fell back, shaking his hand as the cat ran off. He took a look at his hand with the large scratch swelling. He had to run that under water and bandage it once he returned home.

He looked into his phone to see the picture. His hand was clearly in focus while the cat was blurred from running away. This was just one of many attempts where Keith wanted to befriend the university’s cat, and this was the closest he’d gotten to since attending. To get a picture capturing his failed experience was sad and a little humorous.

Then he remembered Swaggerblue’s stupid comment about ‘cat things’ in sex, but also that he owned a cat. He was still a little embarrassed that he didn’t have a clue regarding taking care of cats, or even trying to attract them, but from the text he thought Swaggerblue found it funny too.

Before he got up he quickly sent him the picture with the caption ‘tried to pet the uni’s cat’. His hand definitely started to sting now, and he figured he might as well go home to take care of it.

A reply came in a few hours later, presumably the time where Swaggerblue finally woke up.

> **Swaggerblue69**  
>  Wtf that’s an early jog.  
>  But omg what did u do to piss it off?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Nothing! I was petting it and it scratched me!
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  I don’t believe u, that cat is the sweetest 1 of the bunch

Keith did believe that. It seemed happy to give little kisses to Keith before suddenly turning on him, and it was the only cat to ever approach him. Maybe he should invest in cat nip.

But a day later, Keith completely forgot to text back. Swaggerblue69 didn’t send anything else either, though, so it was a mutual standstill. He did expect that to happen, though, just because it was so hard to keep up a conversation with someone he couldn’t put a face to. His profile barely gave enough to make a real conversation, and asking questions felt unnatural and boring.

Keith sighed and switched apps, going to his class page to check out his test score. He cringed, seeing that he just _barely_ passed by one point. It wasn’t a total failure, but his grade was not going to increase at this rate.  

He still had Hunter’s offer on the table.

> **Keith**  
>  So, when are you working? Definitely going to need that drink.
> 
> **Hunter**  
>  Shiiiit  
>  Sorry Im not workin this weekend.  
>  Rain check?
> 
> **Keith** :  
>  That’s okay!  
>  How about we meet up for coffee or something later this week?
> 
> **Hunter** :  
>  Yeah I can do that!  
>  Wednesday? That coffee shop across the bar?
> 
> **Keith** :  
>  I know the place. I’ll see you there.
> 
> **Hunter** :  
>  Cool! It’s a date then ;)

He wrinkled his nose at the winky face, and locked his phone.

* * *

Since his freshman year, Keith always made sure he had one or no classes on Fridays so that he could spend his time in the gym. He did this originally to match Shiro’s schedule, who kept his Fridays open for the same reason. Keith enjoyed a good spar with an actual person, but the only ones that could handle him were Allura and Shiro. Allura, however, had to attend some political Earth-to-Altean conference, so Shiro was the only one available.

After weight warm-ups and stretches, they stood on opposite ends of the sparing mat. Keith covered his hands with a wrap while Shiro made some final adjustments to his prosthetic arm, making sure everything was locked in place.

Shiro stood in a fighting pose. “Alright, whenever you’re ready—"

Keith was on his feet, charging at full speed with his fist ready for a punch. Shiro stumbled back as he caught Keith with his prosthetic hand, gripping him tightly to stop him from finishing the punch. Keith pulled his body back, still in Shiro’s hold, as his other hand swung for another attack. Shiro caught that hand too, so they were at a standstill. Keith readjusted his stance, using his upper body to push Shiro back. Shiro, being the taller one, held his ground.

Keith’s hands trembled as he tried to regain control. He could barely move as Shiro pushed down, forcing him to one knee. Most of that pressure came from Shiro’s left, even though he was naturally right handed and fought exceptionally with his prosthetic arm.

When he looked up, he saw Shiro smile. Shiro’s left hand pushed further. Keith looked away so Shiro couldn’t see him leer angrily at him. Shiro was doing it again—holding back.

Keith let his right hand go limp, causing Shiro to stumble forward. Still holding onto his right hand, Keith pushed back and rolled Shiro onto his back. He straddled his hips and held Shiro down by his shoulders. “I win.”

After they caught their breath, Keith stood up and held his hand out for Shiro to grab. “Damn, I thought I had you.”

“You almost did, if you just used your dominate hand.” He said patting Shiro’s metal arm.

“I didn’t want to hurt you.”

Keith froze for a beat, then took a deep breath. “You won’t. Come on let’s go again.”

Shiro was quiet for a few seconds too, and then, “Okay.”

This time Shiro attacked first, dropping down to deliver a low kick. Keith jumped out of the way, his hands blocking his face for the next move. Shiro threw a punch with his right hand, and then his left. Keith’s arms were ready for each block, and as he took the impact Shiro was yet again hitting harder with his left.

Pouting, Keith attacked Shiro’s right side. He made contact at least three times before the metal hand punched him and sent him to the floor. Keith held shoulder that was throbbing. Shiro’s face immediately crumpled into sorrow.

“Shit, that was too hard. Keith are you okay?”

Keith blew a strand of hair from his face. He stood up and pulled his arm back for a stretch. “Barely felt it. Come on cyborg show me what you really got.”

Shiro laughed at his nickname. “Alright, but if it’s too much—"

“My safeword is Sanchez. You know I like it rough.” He said with a wink.

Rolling his eyes, Shiro charged again with full force. Keith smiled as he braced for impact.

\---

At the end of their session, Keith was sure his shoulder was bruised when Shiro elbowed him down and his hand was hurting from punching his metal arm several times. When Shiro approached him with an ice pack and a cool bottled water, he gave his friend a sheepish smile. “Stop looking at me like that, we’ve fought dirtier before.”

“It’s just I really went too hard—"

“Hey,” Keith interrupted. “It was a good session. Next time let’s ask Allura if we can use her private facility.”

“I… okay.” He said. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind.”

Shiro smiled, but regret still lingered on his face. Keith turned away, grabbing his backpack. “Come on, don’t you have to get ready for your dinner tonight?”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Shiro took Keith’s backpack before he could sling it over his shoulder, and Keith let him have that one.

It was a joke between them, and spreading to Pidge, Hunk and even Lance, that Shiro was the father figure of the group. His mature demeanor, tone of voice when they acted out, and protectiveness of his friends is what gave him that title.

Shiro was also the one who took care of Keith while he was jumping around foster care back in high school, and the only friend that stuck around. Keith worked hard to get into the same university just so he could be with Shiro. They were more like siblings, and Shiro treated him well.

_Too well_ , Keith thought.

Because Shiro was too forgiving. He put Keith’s well-being before his own, as if he _had_ to take care of him.

And Keith knew he didn’t deserve that kind of treatment. He didn’t deserve Shiro’s kindness, his too big of a forgiving heart after what he did.

He wanted Shiro to be tough. He wanted to feel that metal hand punch his face and make him bleed for what he did. He wanted Shiro to yell at him, tell him what he did was shitty and he had to earn his forgiveness—

Keith wanted chaos when Shiro was giving him peace.

_Fuck,_ Keith thought, _I’m a fucking mess_.

“So um, I have a date.” Keith blurted.

“You do?” Shiro asked, surprised.

“Yeah. Hunter. He asked me out, I said yes.”

“Keith that’s great. What are you two going to do?”

Keith chuckled. “Shouldn’t we wait until Allura is around? I’m sure she wants to hear all of it.”

Shiro nodded. “Yeah, save it for then.” A pause. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Well, gotta tell dad what I’m up to after curfew.” Keith said, nudging his shoulder against Shiro’s arm. Shiro nudged back.

* * *

When they arrived home Allura had just jumped into the shower. Not wanting to waste time before their meeting Shiro followed her in. Keith waited in the living room, watching some daytime game show until Allura suddenly squealed and jumped out with her towel wrapped around and her wet still very wet. She pulled Keith from the couch and spun him around.

“That is great! Hunter is a handsome man. What will you two do?”

Shiro followed out soon after, unlike Allura fully dressed while drying his hair.

“We’re just going to talk more. I barely know him outside his job making boba.” He said, letting Allura spin him around the living room. “Don’t get your hopes up though it’s not like I’m planning our marriage. Also your towel is falling.”

“I know, but this will be good for you.” She insisted, trying to keep her chest covered. “Right Shiro? Would you have chosen a more suitable man?”

Shiro just laughed. “I don’t know all the guys Keith talks to, but Hunter seemed nice at least. Unlike that guy hitting on you at the grocery store a week ago.”

Keith made a face. He didn’t tell Shiro that guy was one of his first grindr messages. He couldn’t believe he’d actually run into him. “Fucker was hitting on every Asian person there.”

Allura stopped jumping, giving him a warm smile. “Well, I wish you all the luck Keith.”

“Thanks,” he said. “But seriously this isn’t anything _big_ , not the first date I’ve been on you know? And plus it isn’t for a few more days.” He released himself from Allura’s hands. “Aren’t you guys meeting up with your father soon?”

“You are right, we are almost late. Shiro, get dressed!” Allura said as she ran upstairs to find her dress.

“I’m ready dear.” He said. Shiro combed his hair with his hands, unsure if he wanted the white of his hair to stick up or not. He looked at the window reflection, pressing his hair down. Keith clicked his tongue and ruffled his hair back to its messiness.

“There, you look fine.”

Shiro sighed. “Thanks. What are you doing tonight?”

“Pidge wanted to introduce me to some new MMO. We’re skyping soon.”

“Sounds like fun!”

Keith leaned against the couch. “So, you ready to meet Allura’s father?”

“Huh? Of course I’m ready, I’ve met him before.” Shiro replied as he attempted to straighten his bow-tie. His finger tangled in the knot, completely undoing it. Keith raised his hands defensively, unable to help him with this one. “Okay fine I’m a little nervous. I’m pretty sure he’d rather have his daughter date an Altean than an Earthling.”

Before the two even began dating, King Alfor knew of Shiro. He was top of Earth’s piloting class, and had gone to Altea several times for diplomatic and engineering purposes, as recommended by his professors. He was very fond of Shiro and treated him as an experienced pilot, until Allura revealed her interest in him.

Whether it was Alfor’s protectiveness of a father or not, even Keith could tell the new attitude he’d given Shiro. It may have been because Shiro was not Altean, or the fact that Allura and Shiro spent a lot of time together, alone, before their proclaimed romance.

Tonight, they were going to dinner to discuss Allura’s coronation as Queen, since Alfor was retiring the title, and their future plans of marriage and an heir. Neither Shiro or Allura have even mentioned the discussion of marriage, let alone children, because it was a new relationship, but the topic couldn’t be avoided. Keith was only glad he wasn’t expected to third wheel that mess.

“Dammit, it’s not tying!”

“Maybe just use a clip on?”

Shiro sighed, removing the bow tie and back upstairs, where he most likely had a clip on tie for emergencies like this.

“Good luck you two!” He yelled to their bedroom as he closed the door to his. Keith sat down and turned on his laptop when a message from Pidge appeared. He typed back, saying he’d get on his headset in a second, once he opened up the game.

Now, while Keith enjoyed Mario cart, GTA, or any game that involved driving something, he never played MMOs or other genres like visual novels or strategies. Games, for him, were just mind numbing fun, something to do if he had a lot of extra time and he exhausted his other hobbies. Pidge insisted that this new MMO would be a lot of fun though, as it took place in some kind of steampunk medieval setting.

About an hour in, though, Keith still wasn’t understanding the basics. Pidge was on his team and mostly carrying him through the forest, but Keith either kept getting into a squabble with the random forest animals, or started a farm when he meant to be mining for minerals.

“Hey! I got three bushels of wheat. Wait I need an oven to make bread.”

Pidge laughed on the other line. “I think you were supposed to find some steel.”

“Whoa! Someone’s attacking us!”

“Ugh, I got this.”

He watched Pidge's avatar, a small forest elf wearing green armor, slicing through the enemies with their dagger. Keith managed to injure one with his wooden spear.

“Pidge unless I get a horse drawn carriage, or even a horse, I have no idea how to play this.”

“That's alright. Wanna play something else?”

Keith opened his game library, only finding one other game he owned. “Uh, I don’t really have anything.”

“Hey, why don’t you come over? Hunk is coming back from his tutoring job and Lance isn’t home so we can totally—"

Keith looked into the camera. “What does Lance have to do with this?”

Pidge's face immediately fell, shrinking as best as they could as they played with their thumbs. “Uh, just that he’s gone this weekend so it’s not like our place is crowded. And you two don't really get along which now realizing is why you probably actually haven’t seen our place.” He let Pidge babble on until they realized thhe was talking in circles. Pidge looked at him guiltily.

Keith sighed, rubbing the back of his head nervously. “I don’t… dislike him.”

“I didn’t say that! I just said you two don’t get along.”

“But you and Hunk think that, right?”

“I… sorry didn’t mean to make this awkward.”

“No, don’t be. I get it.” He tried to say so that Pidge wasn’t at fault. Because it’s true, from an outside perspective Keith’s attitude towards Lance was cold. He fought back, and he fought until he won. He made an effort not to talk to Lance outside of their study sessions, and the thought of their arguments during that time just boiled his blood.

So he definitely understood why people thought he hated Lance. Hate, even dislike, was a strong word though. He just found him very irritating. There was no real malice on Keith’s side regarding Lance as a person, no matter how much he avoided him like a plague.

They simply didn’t get along, and Keith was fine with that.

“I’m tired anyway.” Keith continued. “I’m about to shower and stuff so I don’t feel like walking there.” He hoped that was enough to break the awkwardness between the two of them.

While it didn’t sound like it, Pidge accepted his answer. “That’s fine, I’ve been in my pjs since five. But the offer is always open. Do you have a console at your place?”

“Yeah actually. Next time you can come over and help me kick Allura’s ass at Mario Cart. I swear she cheats somehow.”

“Sounds like fun! Text me when you’re available. See you tomorrow at study session?”

“Yeah, have a good night Pidge.”

The call ended, returning to his plain desktop. Keith removed his headset and slouched in his chair. He wanted to try and finish some of his readings but after that there was no way he could concentrate on any of his assignments. Frustrated, he scratched his hair as he leaned too far back into his chair, causing him to fall flat on his back.

His nose wrinkled, face in a frown in his current position. Running his hands down his face, Keith rolled over and stood up, pulling his chair ride side up, and then grabbed his towel from the hanger. A cold shower would shock his anger away and maybe put his mind to rest.

The coolness of the water helped, and wanting to keep cool Keith decided to just sleep in his boxers instead of his sweatpants. He sprawled himself out, his eyes half lidded now that he was exhausted when he noticed a blinking green light on his phone.

Once he opened the message, he was met with a picture of Swaggerblue69, lying on his bed shirtless, and with a cat on his chest. His boxers were low, revealing his hip bone and v-line. This picture also proved that his abs, and his biceps, were indeed real just on how candid the shot was. He was on top of Star Wars rebel sheets.

> **Princezuko3:**  
>  Aw cute cat! Also nice bedsheets!
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  She’s the sweetest thing. Thx! Ur a SW fan?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Hell yeah! Only own the movies though. Bed looks big enough for two.

The second he pressed send Keith wanted to slap himself. The bed sheets were supposed to ignite a conversation about Star Wars, not a sex joke! He wanted to blame the fact he thought about straddling those hips as he grinded against him. He felt completely perverted for thinking that from just a simple picture.

He quickly typed out another message, hoping to die the fire down.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Sorry, a little too forward huh?

Of course Swaggerblue replied that he would bring the sheets if they did meet up for sex, and Keith just chuckled, knowing he accidentally got his hopes up. But when Swaggerblue tried to defend that cats and Star Wars were enough to initiate sex, Keith just realized he did own another Star Wars item, his boxers that Shiro got him for Christmas one year.

Keith bit his lip, contemplating if sending a picture of his lower half was even a good idea. He kept teasing Swaggerblue and rejecting as soon as the topic of meeting up occurred. If he kept this up, Swaggerblue might become demanding, or possibly a stalker.

Except, just from their conversations, he didn’t _seem_ like the stalker type. Whenever he shot him down Swaggerblue just continued their conversation like normal. It was as if they were flirting with boundaries.

Sending a picture of himself may be pushing those boundaries, but he also thought, this guy is sending him pictures too. He was comfortable (or maybe just too open) about showing himself like that. Keith looked down at his own body, thinking he was just as well toned as Swaggerblue. There was nothing he was ashamed of with himself, plus he wasn’t planning to add his face with the picture.

Keith lowered the camera and took a picture. It was just enough so that only his chest to his thighs were showing. The sheets were white and nothing else in his room could be seen. His finger hovered over the send key, and closing his eyes he pressed it.

Keith quickly covered himself with his blanket, buried his head under his pillow, and shoved his phone so that the screen was facing down. He shouldn’t feel so embarrassed doing that, yet it definitely felt _dirty._ Even when he was doing long distance he never sent a picture of himself shirtless.

It took a few agonizing minutes, but a reply finally came. He waited another minute to look at it.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Oh hello there! So does this mean ur boxers will match my sheets?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  It means I should steal your sheets to replace my boring white ones.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Alright test time. RotS or RotJ?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Is that a trick question? Jedi of course!

When Swaggerblue’s reply came in, revealing he actually liked the prequels, Keith sat up again, leering at his phone. It may have been petty to stop talking to someone with their taste in preference for Star Wars, but he never met someone who actually enjoyed the prequels. It seemed, too, that Swaggerblue had the same mindset.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  … I’m about to break up with you.
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  I was thinking the same thing.

Now it was a standstill game. Was he actually going to refute his argument? Was he going to wait for a response first?

He won that round when Swaggerblue replied in all caps. Keith called him a padawan, and the game was on.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Uh huh, pls explain to me how anything in the prequels make sense??  
>  Metachlorians???
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  I thought we were just talking about the last movie!!
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Nope. All three or I win. It’s a trilogy :P
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Fine.  
>  I’ll give u that Phantom was a mess  
>  BUT  
>  Anakin and Padme tho??
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Soo???
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Um their story was important!! Plus he was a badass for saving her?  
>  And they were a good couple??

Keith shook his head, really considering if he should call him instead for a verbal argument. He wouldn’t do it, though, but there was no way he could express that comment with just words.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Did we watch the same movie?? Obi-Wan was waaay hotter than Anakin
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  I cannot believe u just said that.
> 
> **Princeuzko3** :  
>  What, you don’t like Obi-wan??
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  I do! But Anakin was badass!
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  I’m starting to think u only like the prequels for the hot baddie
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Totally untrue. Padme was pretty too.
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  I’m already winning this if ur argument is that the actors were pretty.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Gimme a second! Hand is cramping from typing too fast.

Falling on his back, Keith let out another laugh as he waited for the reply. Once it came, Keith cracked his knuckles and sent a long paragraph that was his thesis on the subject. The reply was a just as lengthy text.

He vaguely remembered hearing the front door open and the sound of Allura and Shiro enter their room. The lights in the hallway turned off as he sent another reply. Soon enough the sun began to rise and the birds outside chirped.

When Swaggerblue stopped replying, Keith finally fell asleep.

* * *

Keith was practically scowling during their study session. He could feel the bags in his eyes grow as he had to listen to Lance spew bullshit about their next assignment. Lance was looking just as tired, though. “Aw, didn’t catch your beauty sleep?” Lance asked him.

Unable to form a coherent sentence, Keith flipped him off.

Lance threw his head back with a smirk, trying to hide the fact that he was probably going to collapse any time soon. “I was up texting a really cute guy.”

“Customized avatars on WoW doesn’t count.” Keith smirked, finally getting back at him.

“Alright just because you’re not getting laid—"

He was ready for a rebuttal when Hunk silenced them with reading aloud the text book. Keith pulled his book to his face so that he wouldn’t have to stare at Lance. He ignored Shiro’s sigh.

* * *

Part of Shiro’s ‘educational integration of earthly customs to the Altean ambassador’ included movie nights with different themes. Tonight were horror films with the subgenre of zombies as requested by Allura. Stories of the dead coming to life and eating the living’s brains never seemed to die. With the newest trend being zero gravity space alien zombies, the longest running zombie show was given an extra three seasons.

While Keith was a fan of the action packed zombie films and shows, Shiro decided to go with a classic: a really, really old classic. Since they planned to watch at least two films that evening he said he wanted to show Allura the origins of the reanimated dead. Keith knew, however, it was because Shiro was too scared of the newer zombies.

Keith yawned for the third time in thirty minutes, his head resting in his hand while Shiro and Allura curled up on the other side of the couch. On the screen were the protagonists in another useless conversation about ‘survival’ as pale-ish zombies wandered around the mall. He looked over at the couple, noting how focused both of them were with the story.

Another five minutes of talk and no action, Keith pulled out his phone to find something to pass the time. He replied to a message from Hunter, asking more about their date, and something from Pidge asking about class notes.

The protagonist let out a loud and long scream as a zombie attempted to eat her. The other character charged behind it, hitting the back of its head with a stool. He wondered why no one had a knife on them, or some kind of suitable weapon on hand in case an attack like that occurred.  

He wanted to ask the two their choices in case of a zombie outbreak, but seeing as they were so engrossed he knew disturbing them would be bad. Keith thought about Swaggerblue, thinking that since they shared their interest in Star Wars and atla, he would possibly like zombies too.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Alright new question, because I’m watching some cheesy zombie film with my roommate. Weapon of choice in a zombie apocalypse?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Rifle, duh! U?

Any sort of gun was too loud, Keith thought, so maybe Swaggerblue would be a terrible choice to be in his team. He needed people who were stealthy and quiet, not just going in guns blazing. But then he texted back, saying that he was an actual marksman, and Keith’s mind trailed somewhere else.

He loved weaponry and was more than excited when Allura allowed him to train with bayards from her castle. On earth and in college, however, Keith didn’t have time or the resources to train with any weapons. His only friends, too, were pacifist with little interest in fighting [Except Pidge who seemed too happy with their taser, but they weren’t too fond of sparring regularly].

After a few more texts he received several pictures of Swaggerblue’s guns, from a handgun to the rifle he was proud of. The next set of pictures were his paper targets, showing that he hit the mark almost every time. Now Keith was definitely impressed, seeing as the other person with such accuracy was Allura and her father.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Wat about u? Show me ur knives.

Without hesitating, Keith pulled out his butterfly knife and flicked it open.

“Whoa!” Shiro jumped from his seat. “Why would you just pull that out?”

Keith looked between his knife, that was one of his smaller ones, and Shiro’s shocked face. “Uh. I’m going to take a picture of it?”

“Why?” Shiro asked.

“Because he sent me a picture of his guns and he asked for my knives?”

Allura blinked at him, then turned to Shiro. “Is this a euphemism?”

“God I hope not.”

“No! Look!” He held up his phone. “Actual guns!”

Finally, Shiro relaxed. “Oh good, texting about weapons. That’s… are you texting him through grindr?”

“Yeah? So what?”

“Earth courtings are very ancient.” Allura said. “But acceptable! Does this ‘Hunter’ have a gun to match his?”

“I don’t think Hunter uses any weaponry.”

She clicked her tongue. “Shame. Maybe he is not as compatible as we believed.”

“We’re still talking about guns and not sex, right?” Shiro quipped.

Keith ruffled his hair as he stood up. “Keep watching, I just need to take more pictures of my knives.”

“Wait, _knives?_ I thought you only had the butterfly in the house!”

Winking at his friend, Keith quickly ran up to his room and closed the door, giving Allura time to calm Shiro down.

Keith pulled a large box out from under his bed. Sitting on velvet cushions were his collection. Five black and red throwing knives, earned while working part time in high school, two hunting knives found while traveling through the asteroid belt, a stone one that he stole from his ex right after they broke up, and his engraved knife left by his father before his death.

The last time he used his throwing knives were years ago, so his collection was kept in pristine condition. His butterfly knife, a gift from Allura, was the one he used most often for something even as trivial as opening a package, or cutting a fish when their other knives were dirty. Shiro definitely didn’t like that.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  K I’m impressed. But r u actually good at throwin? Or just for show?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Hell yeah I am, gimme a second.

Keith went through his videos, pulling one from two years ago when he was at weaponry range. Because it was older the quality was a little grainy, but there was just enough to see it was Keith in the video. Only his profile was showing as his arm pulled back, and in one fluid motion flung the knife into the target, hitting right at the bull’s eye. The video shakes with the camera person cheering right as it ends.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  … k ur very good and I’m slightly turned on.  
>  I apologize for questioning ur honor.
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Apology accepted padawan.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  For the last time I’m a jedi!  
>  Do u keep them hidden in your socks and stuff?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  What like some kind of spy? Because yes I do.

His butterfly knife was usually in his pocket, but while he was traveling in space he did keep the stone knife in his boot just in case of a surprise attack.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Alright I’m convinced. I’m talking with a spy and I’m gonna be arrested.
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Arrested for what? What did you do?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  I plea the 5th
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Ur gonna need a lawyer soon  
>  What if I’m a rogue spy, ruining all government plans in the name of my own justice?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  I’d say that’s very hot and I’m willing to talk. can I be ur Bond girl?
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Ur okay just standing there and lookin pretty?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Uh I do that all the time :P  
>  Just wear a good suit and i'll serve u a martini

Shiro and Allura screamed, meaning they may have finally hit the horrific climax of the movie. Keith put his box away and went downstairs, now slightly interested in the film if something was actually happening. But in the back of his mind, he thought about Swaggerblue standing next to him, nothing but his boxers or a swimsuit, gladly showing off his body.  

* * *

Slumped in his chair, Keith twiddled his fingers and blew the strand of hair in front of his face, thinking he should probably pull his hair back more often. A few seconds passed and he looked at his phone, the time reading 7:05. Hunter was five minutes late, not that he expected perfect punctuality, but Keith wasn’t sure what to do. He already checked and cleared his messages, so he had no reason to look at his phone.

The time changed to 7:06 with the same amount of customers still in the café. Keith sighed, crossing his arms and looked out the window. Now that it was spring, the sun set later than usual. The sky was just barely mixing between orange and red with many pedestrians still on the street.

His phone buzzed with a new message, a text from his friend Lisa.

> **Lisa**  
>  Look outside

Keith turned looked behind him and out the giant window. About to cross the street were a group of students, the males from his piloting courses, and a group of girls. One of the girls, with long black hair and wearing a dress, waved at him. He smiled and waved back.

> **Keith** :  
>  Haven’t seen you in a while! Where are you going?
> 
> **Lisa** :  
>  Group date! You?
> 
> **Keith** :  
>  Date haha.
> 
> **Lisa** :  
>  Good luck! We should hang out some time!

He had brief conversations with Lisa in the past few months, but he knew he had to do something nice for her. Treat her to a big lunch or something after putting up with his shit when he returned to earth. She waved to him again as they crossed the street.

When the doorbell chimed, Keith looked up and saw Hunter run in. His blonde hair was sticking up while his shirt was half-tucked in. The second he found Keith, he waved to him and sat down. “I’m so sorry, there was a long line at the shop.”

Keith just smiled. “It’s fine, I wasn’t waiting long.”

“Good,” Hunter said, scooting himself into the table. Keith felt their knees touch so he moved his legs away. “Uh, you know I’m surprised you finally called, since I left my number a lot.”

Keith awkwardly laughed, his eyes turning to his phone instead of Hunter. “Right… I uh.”

“It’s fine, really.” He said. “I’m just glad you’re interested at all.”

“Yeah, I mean…” Keith coughed. “Uh actually let’s start there. I just don’t want to waste your time.”

Hunter tilted his head curiously. “I’m listening.”

In a low voice Keith quickly explained exactly what he was looking for. No major details to why he was only looking for a hook-up, but simply saying he wanted to find someone sexually compatible. He wasn’t embarrassed for telling him this, but he was the first person he considered outside grindr, someone he saw on a regular basis.

Hunter, though, just kept smiling. “I think I can work with that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I mean I find you really attractive, and obviously you think the same. Sex is fun! So, what did you want to ‘get a feel for’ as you said?”

Now feeling relaxed, Keith went off, saying he was looking for someone who wouldn’t mind sex (most likely at their place) but also wouldn’t mind casual hang outs once in a while. Strictly, friends who sleep together, to relieve stress or just because it’s fun. All the while Hunter kept nodding, taking in everything he was saying. Once in a while he felt their feet touch again, mostly to Hunter’s doing, but nothing too off putting. He was paying attention to him, so that was nice.

Soon after they left the café for a night walk around the town. Now that winter had ended, the nights were warmer, which was comfortable for outdoor dinners and walking just to pass the time. It was still a little early to end their date, so a walk was the next best thing to do while talking.

Hunter, himself, was polite, listened to Keith, and actually told funny jokes. He also hit the gym four times a week, which was just a plus to Keith. He asked Keith was he was into sexually, and it seemed like his answers aligned with Hunter’s interests as well. During their walk they were very close, feeling Hunter’s hand brush against his every few steps. Neither made an attempt to hold hands (is part of friends with benefits?) but light contact wasn’t too bad.

But just as he thought things were actually okay Hunter decided to completely kill the mode.

They passed by the old comic book store, where the display posters were old detective and comic book artwork, portraying a damsel in distress in a near-death situation. Hunter pointed to one poster, where a woman was being grabbed by a tentacle monster, while the background had a samurai and a gunman ready to fight the beast. It was titled ‘Monster of the Depths’. “Bet you’d look good all tied up like that.” He said this in his friendly and casual tone. But his eyes were dilated and filled with lust.

Keith cringed, now finding the non-sexual poster distasteful. “Uh, nah. Not a huge fan of restraints.”

“Aw really?” He asked, pulling Keith closer by his wrist. “You don’t find this kinda steamy?”

Now he was frowning. “No, actually. I didn’t mention that did I?”

“I guess you didn’t. But I figured I should be able to do some things I like, right?”

“Well yes, but you haven’t said what you’re into. And for the record,” Keith said as he pulled his hand back, “I don’t like that.”

“What? You mean this?” Hunter then grabbed Keith by the waist and pulled him yet again so that their chests were touching. Keith yelped at the sudden contact, but then sneered when Hunter’s hand was on his ass. “Don’t you want to be held like this?”

Keith pushed him to the wall, watching Hunter hit it with a thud.

Hunter’s nice demeanor finally faltered. “What the hell is your problem?!”

“You can’t just grab me like that!”

“I was just holding you!”

“Your hand was on my ass, and we’re in public!”

“So what? Like you said you’re looking for a good time, why are you suddenly such a prude?”

Instead of a verbal response, Keith’s fist collided with his face, sending Hunter to the ground.

His breathing was heavy, hand still in a fist, and ready to keep fighting. But by then they were drawing a crowd. Passerby’s stares and a few murmurs forced him to back away, and after giving him one last dirty look Keith turned away.

Pushing past the crowd, and once in the clear he ran back to the parking lot. He dove into his car, fumbled his keys into the ignition, and just a few seconds later he was taking off. As he was leaving the atmosphere, Keith made contact with the Garrison’s and Moon’s control tower, warning them of his departure and arrival. He was granted approval, and soon enough he picked up speed and blasted through the sky.

He broke through the clouds, passed the man-made satellites, and soon enough he was in the void. Nothing in his way, no lights or sounds, just the emptiness of space.

Except there was one sound: his heavy breathing. Keith’s hands trembled on the steering wheel. He caught himself, lifting up one hand and holding it out in front of him to watch it. He slammed his hand down on the dashboard. “Dammit.”

The moon was in his line of vision. Resting his forehead on the wheel, Keith blindly reached for his radio, signaling the moon tower he was going to land. Once he received the approval, he turned off the thrusters and prepared the landing gear.

Right after he landed Keith drove to the emptiest, and darkest part of the rock. After colonization and space exploration took off, many nearby planets and moons became rest stops for travelers. The moon, besides the control tower and ‘airport’, had a fuel station and a diner all within the same crater.

He finally stopped his vehicle once he was far enough away from the control tower and any other vehicle in the vicinity. Keith slummed down in his seat, one hand in his hair and the other one resting on his lap.

Staring at the dark sky, Keith took out his cell phone and quickly wrote a text to Allura expressing his pure frustration towards his failed date. But the second he pressed send, he just remembered that she was in a late council meeting, and he shouldn’t have been distracting her.

He was about to text her again when he saw who the text actually went to, Swaggerblue69.

“Ah, crap.”

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Sorry, that was meant for my friend.

When had he opened grindr he had no idea, he was so sure he was using his regular texting app when he sent that.

He placed his phone on the dashboard, propping his feet up against it as well as he looked up at the sky. A couple minutes he received a reply.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  lol no prob. U ok?

Keith bit his lip as he stared at the message. He wrote in short cuts, meaning he was treating their conversation so casually. And yet, asking if he was okay, it was as if Shiro or Allura were asking him that. When did they start talking like this?

But was it okay for him to tell him what happened? He was talking to a faceless person, who has been trying to meet with him for a week now, and yet he goes on a date with someone else. Swaggerblue’s message was friendly, so he could tell him what was happening, right?

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Uh. Yeah. Bad date is all.

Putting his phone back on the dashboard, Keith pulled his legs up to his chest, waiting for it to buzz.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Rlly? Wat happened?

When he let out a sigh, he realized that he was holding his breath. It took less than twenty seconds for a reply, yet it was as if he held his breath for an hour.

This faceless guy was interested. A guy he’s been rejecting day after day, actually wanted to know what happened.

He texted a quick response, to which Swaggerblue said:

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Gross. Im sorry u had to experience that. What did u do?

His words were fuller, beginning to blur between casual and serious in their conversation. He took Star Wars seriously, and soon enough this conversation too. He quickly typed back, smiling as Swaggerblue replied in a short amount of time.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Anyway, what are you up to?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Middle of a group date

His hands fell to his lap, realizing that he was distracting him from something important. He quickly thought about Lisa, who was also on a group date.  But looking back at the guys on the date, none of them came close, in body type, to Swaggerblue. Maybe he happened to be on a group date somewhere else.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Oh sorry dude! I can let you go.

He felt sadden that his friend, if he could even call him that, would have to stop the conversation, and he was back to his lonesome on the moon.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  No ur fine. U ok tho? U home now?

Phone back up to his face, Keith stared at the message. This person… was actually asking if he was okay.

It was weird. Shiro and Allura would have asked the same. They asked because they were friends and friends cared about each other.

This person was just some guy behind a phone. He used short cuts and had horrible tangents to sex and bad taste in movies. He was also funny, and willing to talk about anything till they fell asleep. In some way, he was like a friend. He cared, even though he had no reason to.

Keith took a picture of the sky as a follow up to where he was. Swaggerblue’s reply was a picture of the fire pit, jokingly written to say it will help him warm up. And despite the cold, darkness of the moon, Keith did feel a little warm just looking at the picture. He would have felt warmer if someone was with him.

Their texts soon turned to Keith telling him how he traveled around the world, and parts of the solar system before entering college. Keith felt like he was bragging, beginning with how he punched his date to his first time flying past the asteroid belt. But Swaggerblue kept asking questions, encouraging him to tell his stories. Soon enough, Keith completely forgot how he ended up on the moon in the first place, smiling each time a reply came in.

Looking at the time, Keith decided it was probably best to return to earth. He cooled off enough with the trip, and seeing as no police cars have tried to follow him, it meant Hunter didn’t tell him off to the cops.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Sorry to cut it short. Heading back to earth now. Text you later?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Yea! Get back safely! Have a good night Prince.

Keith took a deep breath, ignoring his face in the rearview mirror that clearly showed himself blushing. He thought he would continue with the funny nicknames of hotman or secret spy. Prince was part of his user name, but the thought of him saying it with affection made his heart beat faster than he wanted.

A little riled up again, going home and just sleeping now wasn’t an option. If he flew back slowly and maybe took a detour he would eventually tire himself out.

The ride back did take a while, but when he arrived home it was still dark. All lights were off, meaning that Shiro and Allura were asleep. Keith, still not tired, saw he had enough fuel for a trip to the beach. The thought of the fire pit, and the beautiful orange rays of the sunrise, warmed him again, so he continued driving.

Keith arrived at the beach just a few hours later, taking his time as he passed through several states to get to this particular beach. He stood on the pier, taking a deep breath as he soaked up the sun. A cool breeze pushed the sea into the air, the smell of salt surrounding him. From the harbor boats pushed out into the ocean, ready for a long day of fishing.

The last time he was at the beach was with Shiro and Allura just about a year ago. It was her idea to go on the trip since tensions between Shiro and Keith were still very raw. She insisted a vacation on the other side of the country, no classes, no piloting, was the right amount of therapy. She was right, too. Keith couldn’t remember the last time he laughed while watching Shiro attempted to surf, or when Allura single handedly defeated a men’s volleyball game. They brought out a large tent and slept near the fire pit, telling ghost stories to see who can tell the scariest story of the bunch.

It was a fond memory, which was probably why Allura was able to take the only picture of him smiling.

Still, he couldn’t help but think if there was a fourth person, like a potential boyfriend for Keith, it also wouldn’t have been as lonely. At the end of the night, Allura and Shiro snuggled up together, holding hands as they slept through the whole night. He wasn’t jealous of Allura, more so he was jealous he didn’t share that with someone else.

Keith took a picture of the sunrise, holding his phone tightly as he stared at the screen, forever holding that image.

He wondered if Swaggerblue’s group date was also at the beach since they had a fire pit, and he mentioned earlier that he loved the beach. He was texting him through the date, which if Keith were in that group, would find that completely irritating. But he was on the other side of that text, and as cold as the moon was, reading his text made him feel warmer than standing on the pier.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  couldn’t sleep, had to take this picture.

The time read 6 AM, an ungodly time for anyone to be up. He had class that afternoon, and with the little amount of sleep he planned to take once he got home, he thought about skipping it. He was too tired from that horrible date to really see anyone else anyway.

Keith got into his vehicle and flew home, arriving to their townhouse by eight, and sneaking through his window just to crash on his bed.

He woke up, with what only felt like a few minutes of sleep, to Shiro opening his bedroom door with a plate of food. It was about ten thirty. “Uh, hey? Long night?”

Keith grumbled, turning on his back so he could face Shiro. He was still wearing his jacket and jeans, with only one shoe still on his foot. “Um yeah you can say that.” He said while rubbing his eyes. He took the glass of juice. “Thank you.”

“Yeah no problem.” Shiro said, leaning against the door frame. “So… how was your date?”

Keith sighed. “It didn’t go well.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I kinda have a headache and haven’t showered.”

“Oh! Okay I’ll leave it you to it.” Shiro said, getting the hint. “Just, well, I’m here if you want to alright? And I’m sure Allura would like to hear more about it. So…”

“I know. Thanks again Shiro.”

Shiro nodded before closing the door behind him. Keith fell back into his bed, staring up at the ceiling when he noticed the green light from his peripheral. Swaggerblue made a joke about him being a vampire for not sleeping at a normal time, and he let out a strained laugh. He replied, asking about the group date.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Meh, left early. But no biggie I wasn’t planning anything to happen

Now that came as a surprise for Keith, especially with how persistent Swaggerblue was to meet with him, he assumed this guy wanted something to come out of a date. Maybe he had a bad night too.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Really? That’s too bad.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Like I said no prob!  
>  Anyway I was thinkin, ur definitely fire nation bc of ur name which may be a problem
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  And why’s that? Lol
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Because I’m water tribe, duh!
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  How is that a ‘duh’?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Uh blue is in my username. Blue=water

Keith laughed.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  That’s not obvious at all!  
>  Doesn’t matter fire is better than water anyway
> 
> **Swaggerblue** :  
>  .. srsly? Water puts out fire.
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  ??  
>  Uh but lighning though? Can totally defeat water with electricity!
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Not if I bloodbend you first!
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Only happens on the full moon! I still win.

Ten minutes later the reply came in.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  I’ll get back to u on that.
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  I’ll take this as a win.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  :P Hitting the gym, don’t want to hurt myself texting u  
>  Talk to u later Prince?

Keith buried his face in his pillow, knowing full well that he was blushing madly at the nickname. He was lying on his chest, trying to smother himself in the soft mattress so he couldn’t feel his heart pacing through that simple text.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Yeah. Later :)

* * *

When Keith finally emerged from his bedroom, refreshed from a shower and a clean set of clothes, Allura looked at him with a wide grin. She was alone in the kitchen. “So, your date with Hunter went well?”

“Huh?”

“You turn up in your clothes from the evening before, and you’re smiling.”

Keith hand quickly covered his mouth, thinking he stopped smiling a while ago. “Uh, actually the date with Hunter turned out horribly.”

Her face immediately fell. “What happened?”

“He was a pig, I punched him, and then I just kind of wandered around for a while.”

“Did he touch you without your consent?” She asked, standing up from her chair. “When I get my hands on him he will wish he was never birthed!”

Keith held his hands up. “It’s fine! I took care of it! Just… don’t tell Shiro, okay?”

Sighing, Allura sat back down, holding her coffee mug tightly in her hands. “He’s worried about you, know you?”

He shrugged, trying to hide his uncomfortableness. “Shiro always worries.”

“But especially with you. Keith, you two have to talk.”

Keith moved to the sink, putting away the dishes so that his back was turned to her. “There is nothing to talk about.”

Her grip on her mug became tighter. “He’s making scenarios in his head, and you know how big his imagination gets. Keith, he’s afraid you’ll fall for another Rolo.”

“I thought we agreed that name would never be mentioned.”

“But that’s what he’s _thinking_. I told him he was crazy, and what you are doing is completely safe with no strings attached. But _you_ also have to tell him that.” She was still sitting, but he felt her words jab at him. “He thinks you’re hiding form him again.”

That’s why Allura was very vocal about his dating life, and she made sure Shiro was there the day she made his profile. Beforehand, Keith was bringing guys home in secret, making sure they left before the crack of dawn so Shiro wouldn’t find them. He knew Shiro caught on, though, which was why he stopped for a while and thus began his ‘irritable’ aura. He wasn’t satisfied with those random hookups anyway, but knowing Shiro was wary of his life also made him uncomfortable.

“Well tell him I’m not.” He snapped. “He knows I like my privacy. Look just…” Keith took a deep breath. “Reassure him I’m fine. I’ll talk to him later.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.” He lied.

He could tell that she saw through it, but she didn’t press further. Keith left the kitchen.

* * *

He needed a distraction. Somewhere where he could mindlessly work, focusing on action rather than thoughts. The best place was a gym, far away from earth. He definitely decided to skip class that afternoon as he traveled all the way to Europa, public transportation because it took more time, where he beat several training dummies to a pulp.

Using just his hands and feet, Keith crushed the skulls and rib cages of each dummy in just a few short attacks. He kicked and swung so violently, leaving each one in pieces and ready for the next one. After the twentieth dummy went down, however, the manager kicked him out of the room, forcing him to work with punch bags instead.

He eventually burrowed a hole into one, and he was kicked out of the entire facility with a bill to fix the permanently broken equipment. Keith had no idea how he was going to explain that to his roommates.

He hopped on the next shuttle back to earth. Instead of going straight home, though, Keith wandered around campus, kicking a rock along the paved road until he lost it. At this point the sun already set and the street lights turned on. There were still students out, either walking home from class or just enjoying the summer night.

Arriving at the quad, Keith sat down on the ledge of the fountain, letting the mist of the water hit his back. His pocket buzzed with a new message, and Keith realized he had been ignoring any incoming texts or calls for the past few hours.

> **Shiro** :  
>  I took notes  
>  Allura said you weren’t feeling well. I left some medication in your room.

Keith buried his face into his free hand, angry at himself for worrying Shiro like that. More so, he was angry that he _continued_ to make Shiro worry. Shiro’s heart was too big for his own good. Allura, meanwhile, at least didn’t mind reprimanding him.

> **Allura** :  
>  Wtf where did you go??  
>  You said you were going to talk to Shiro!  
>  Are you at the gym again?!  
>  I’m holding this against you.

Those messages were expected, seeing as he kept breaking his promises to her. He typed out ‘sorry’, realized that wouldn’t do anything, and just deleted the message altogether.

The last set of messages were from Swaggerblue.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Yo so not to show off or anything  
>  which I have a right too since you firebend  
>  check this out!!

Attached was a picture of a full scale model of the Millennium Falcon in a giant facility. It was opened so that people can walk inside and see the entire set. In one picture a teenager with a blue backpack and baseball hat was sitting at the controls. His back was turned to the camera.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Went to the exhibit back in HS lol  
>  It was cool!!  
>  Press the buttons and it made laser noises!
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Dude that’s amazing!
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  I felt like a real rebel :P

More pictures flooded through: the set of Cloud City, Princess Amadala’s various dresses, and three ewoks holding spears and a Stormtrooper helmet.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Here’s ur teddy bears :P
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Aw, don’t act like you don’t like them!
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  I’m just sayin a fight in a volcano was waaaaay better than the teddy bears
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  … okay I can give you that.  
>  But Luke’s final confrontation is what stole the show.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Ehhh, not as cool as Anakin being forced into the suit.  
>  Speaking of which

The next picture were Darth Vadar’s suits, lining up from Episodes Three to Six, and the melted helmet in Seven. The next set of pictures were set replicas of the death stare, Tatooine, and other planets in the SW universe. 

Keith had seen the edge of their solar system, traveled past Altea and to quadrants that the Garrison haven’t even touched yet. He knew what most of space looked like, yet he couldn’t help but smile at each picture Swaggerblue sent him of the Star Wars set. At the time the movies came out, mankind had no idea what the rest of space was really like. They created a world full of color, danger, and fun that people of that decade could only dream of.

So when intergalactic travel became a common occurrence, expectations of extraterrestrial life excelled. Altea was considered the most beautiful planet known so far, with many others following behind. It made sci-fi movies and television shows look bleak and obsolete.

Still, it had a huge following, and Keith couldn’t help but smile with each picture from the sci-fi museum pop up on his phone. It was amazing to see, even if not in person, the labor going into each setting for something as vast as the Star Wars universe. And it was cute how excited Swaggerblue was, despite being a pilot himself.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Haha srry. Didn’t mean to spam u.
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  it’s fine. I love it. Honestly you’re the first person I’ve geeked out too in a long time.
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Really? What about ur roommate?

Keith’s hand froze at the keyboard as he let out a deep sigh. He and Shiro used to talk about everything. Before Allura moved in, it was just their voices, whether Shiro was talking about his internship with the ambassador program, or a weird dream Keith had the night before, they always had something to say to each other.

And then Keith fucked it up royally. Now he can’t bring himself to start a real conversation with his best friend of ten years without it ending in a huge fight.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Yeah but he’s busy, internship and a girlfriend.

That was an easy enough excuse, even though Allura tried her damnest to bring them closer together.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Other ppl are either obnoxious or don’t care too much.  
>  So thanks for listening. I really appreciate it.

The second he pressed send, Keith pulled his phone away from his face and looked out into the distance. People became scarce, but restaurants and bars were still open and filled with laughing patrons, most of them with friends by their sides. Yet there was Keith, sitting alone by the fountain, and smiling stupidly at his phone.

He went through their older conversations, pausing at each picture Swaggerblue sent him. Like his profile picture, everything he sent did not show his face.

Keith’s laughter and joy came from a faceless person.

He locked his phone before possibly making a mistake of asking to meet up. He wasn’t sure if he could do it now, to finally put a face to someone who kept him up at odd hours arguing over a movie. Because the second there was a face, he was going to get too attached.

When his phone buzzed, Keith swallowed nervously. He kept his face down on the fountain ledge for a couple of seconds before reading it.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Hey… I know we just wanted 2 hook up and stuff but do you want to meet anyway? No sex, just talk and fan-boy about everything.

Fuck, Keith was attached.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  Yeah. I’d like that.

Keith wanted to talk. He wanted to laugh with this guy in person. He wanted to sit with him by a bonfire, arguing until dawn about fan theories or piloting. He wanted to see his fucking cat. And, hell, he would like to kiss his stupid well-toned chest and wake up in his bed.

> **Princezuko3** :  
>  And… uh, if it does lead to sex I wouldn’t mind either. But just talking first, yeah?
> 
> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Agreed 100%. But /in case/ we go further, what are the rules? I don’t want to push boundaries. For future reference.

Keith bit down at his knuckles, unsure if he wanted to cry to find this guy now and just straight up kiss him. He was the first person, besides his ex, to _ask_ his preferences. He couldn’t let this one go.

He sent him his rules, the location, and time to meet up. Everything was checked off.

> **Swaggerblue69** :  
>  Yup, know the place! I’ll see you then Prince.
> 
> **Princezuko3** :  
>  See you tomorrow.

Keith jogged his way back home, the smile on his face never faltering.

* * *

Shiro and Allura were quiet, but Keith could tell they were talking through their eyes. Looking at the rear-view mirror he saw them communicating, her eyes on his, then directing at Keith. Shiro looked like he gave in, but it was Allura’s hand on his shoulder.

“Keith, I’m so sorry—"

He shrugged her off, focusing on the course ahead.

“Just drop it, okay?”

They do, and Keith ignored Shiro’s eyes for the rest of the way back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to my friend[ Lolakins](http://lolakins.tumblr.com/) for doing the artwork.  
> If you'd like to know about my updating schedule/reasons why it takes me so damn long to update or even just to talk here's my [tumblr](http://mikuridaigo.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Kudos and comments appreciated. 
> 
> Talk voltron to me here [ my tumblr ](http://mikuridaigo.tumblr.com) |


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